You've seen the progression on your phone screen over the years: 3G technology was followed by 4G, and now, probably more often than not, your phone is connecting over 5G. On the ever-closer horizon is, you guessed it, 6G.
Unlike with the Gs that preceded it, 6G has been flying under the radar. It's less a source of consumer hype and more a point of discussion around the telecoms industry and the networks it relies upon.
But that isn't quite the full story.
During his keynote address at Web Summit on Tuesday, Cristiano Amon, CEO of chipmaker Qualcomm, hinted that 6G networks, which are scheduled to launch in the US in the early 2030s, might have something exciting to offer us after all.
"6G is designed for AI," he said at the event in Lisbon, Portugal. It will boost the speed of connectivity and sense what's around us, providing context to the AI agents that are coming to do things on our behalf.
Following this tantalizingly brief comment, I was keen to find out more about what 6G cellular technology might do for the average smartphone user, so I asked Amon to elaborate on what we can expect from this next-gen network technology.
Every generation of network tech has been the gateway to a new experience, Amon said. 2G was about making sure everyone in the world can have a mobile phone, 3G was for connecting the phone to the internet, 4G turned our mobile device into computers. 5G has allowed us to have critical connectivity and unlimited data.
What then, can 6G offer us above and beyond what we already have?
6G is "solving connectivity for the age of AI," said Cristiano Amon at Web Summit. Zed Jameson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The obvious answer: even faster speeds and even lower latency. But that takes on particular importance given the coming shift in how we'll interact with our AI-enabled devices, Amon said.
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