How 5G mobile will change digital, and not just by making phones faster

How fast is your phone? Although it’s not likely to be available until around 2020, fifth-generation networking is already the hottest mobile technology topic. With promises of speeds of up to a gigabit per second, it will be up to 100 times faster than 4G networking, which is now about four years old in Hong Kong.

But do we really need it? For must of us, the answer is no. But from autonomous cars and “cloud robots” to smart cities and even remote surgical procedures, 5G can and will change how the digital world works – and massively expand it.

READ MORE: China will be at front of global pack for launch of 5G networks by 2020, says telecoms giant ZTE

The most obvious advantage of 5G will be the ability to share, stream or download “4K” quality Ultra HD videos (which are about four times more detailed than HD) to watch on a smartphone, a standard the latest flagship phones can already film in. That includes the Apple iPhone 6s, Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5.

Tech giant Ericsson forecasts that video will account for 80 per cent of all mobile data traffic by 2021, thanks to developments in virtual reality and increases in the quality of on-demand TV programmes and films delivered by services such as Netflix (video accounts for about 64 per cent now), and 5G networking will help cope with that growth. The company’s president and chief executive Hans Vestberg last month showed off a 5G chip during his keynote speech on the topic at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

READ MORE: Hongkongers can expect streamed 4G movies on their phones in 2016 as HKT vows its 4.5G network will be ready

With data speeds of a gigabit per second, you could download a TV show in less than three seconds.