6G is even “hotter” than 5G—why isn’t 5G as popular anymore?

After four years of development, 5G has entered the stage of widespread adoption. Meanwhile, 6G—“one more G” than 5G—is still in the R&D phase. Interestingly, however, 6G is now even hotter than 5G itself.

Why is 5G not “hot” right now, while 6G—whose exact specifications haven’t even been finalized yet—is already getting so much attention? This seems like a story worth exploring.

Right now, 5G has been commercially available for four years. Many people have already upgraded their phones to 5G, and 5G networks have permeated every aspect of social life. In particular, in the field of industrial applications, the use of 5G is booming.

Four years later, the new-generation mobile communication technology—represented by 5G—has become a key engine driving digital economic growth, providing extensive services across multiple sectors including smart transportation, smart homes, smart healthcare, the industrial internet, smart agriculture, and digital villages.

Of course, people now have a new understanding of 5G networks. Many no longer view 5G merely as a communication service—like 2G and 3G—that’s used solely for making calls and sending messages. Instead, they see 5G as a new type of infrastructure—a platform that will connect with technologies such as cloud computing, AI, and the Internet of Things, thereby enabling a host of innovative applications.

It is said that 5G has now been implemented across more than 40 industries, with over 20,000 real-world application scenarios already in place.

Since the emergence of the 6G concept, many people have become even more eager for 6G. Especially now that satellite communication applications are gradually integrating with mobile phones, more and more people feel that 5G doesn't seem quite as appealing anymore. It might be better to wait until 6G becomes commercially available and go straight to 6G from the start.

Compared to 5G, 6G is clearly going to be even more advanced. Compared to 5G, 6G boasts higher data rates, lower latency, greater connectivity, higher intelligence, and the ability to integrate communication with sensing. Moreover, it’s said that 6G technology will also extend into the realms of sensors, artificial intelligence, and computing, making holographic calls—once a staple of science fiction—now a tangible reality.

If that’s really the case, 6G will indeed usher in a new era of communication and fundamentally transform the way communication networks are used—even the way people interact with communication services will be changed.

However, right now, 6G still seems a long way off—there aren't even any related standards yet. There are only reports suggesting that 3GPP is expected to release some relevant technical standards for 6G by 2028.

Yet despite the fact that 6G is still far off, there’s already a growing sense of urgency and anticipation surrounding it. Even the mobile phone’s direct satellite communication feature—something most people probably don’t use on a daily basis—now seems to have become an increasingly pressing need.

Perhaps, behind the urgent demand for next-generation communication technologies lies the fact that 5G currently has too low a presence in the realm of personal applications.

In fact, even though many people now own 5G-enabled phones, in actual use they’ll stick to 4G whenever possible rather than connecting to 5G. This may be for the same reason that 6G—still largely a concept—already seems more appealing than 5G. To many users, 5G has ended up feeling like a half-baked solution: you’d like to use it, but somehow it just doesn’t quite deliver what you’re hoping for.

The various social media, shopping, entertainment, and travel apps that everyone is now familiar with—and virtually cannot do without—were all born in the 4G era and have been popular ever since.

These “highly popular” apps have not only become a key driver encouraging users to adopt 4G, but have also made smartphones an indispensable part of everyone’s life. Moreover, they’ve enabled mobile communication networks to extend into every aspect of society, the economy, and daily life, serving as a powerful accelerator that’s reshaping the entire society’s modes of production and consumption.

But what are the actual applications of 5G in personal use? Right now, perhaps only industry insiders can still name things like “5G messaging” and “5G new calling,” while the general public remains almost completely unaware. It’s safe to assume that for the vast majority of users, their experience and perception of 5G probably boil down to “a slightly faster internet speed.”

With such a low-profile presence, how could users possibly come to love using it? Perhaps it’s precisely because of this that when major smartphone manufacturers introduced phones capable of directly connecting to satellites and enabling satellite communication, users were utterly delighted.

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