Is 5G only about fast internet speed? Is it a rigid demand or a false demand?

In 2019, we thought 5G was a distant thing, but in 2020, almost all flagship phones of mobile phone brands support 5G. Some companies, such as Xiaomi, have even announced that only phones priced at 1,000 yuan will support 4G, and all mid-range and high-end phones under its brand will support 5G. At this time, some people will ask, isn't 4G fast enough? It seems that the speed of 4G is fast enough now. We chat on WeChat, browse Taobao, watch Douyin, and use it every day. Why do we still need to develop 5G technology? Is 5G a false demand? Do we really need 5G technology in our lives?

Is 4G really fast enough?

Much of our understanding and misunderstanding of 5G comes from media propaganda, whether on TV, on the Internet, or at various mobile phone conferences. When they mention the advantages of 5G, there is only one word: fast! However, fast is a vague concept, and many people don’t know how fast is and what the meaning of fast is. For example, Huawei’s latest mobile phone P40Pro says that it only takes ten seconds to download a 2-hour high-definition movie. However, even if I download it in 10 seconds, I still have to spend two hours watching it, which doesn’t seem to make much sense. Even if you use a 4G network, you can watch 4K movies and high-definition live broadcasts. The speed of 5G looks a bit like a pseudo-demand.

However, I don’t know if you have noticed that if we go to a crowded place, we will find that the network becomes stuck. For example, my friend went to a Jay Chou concert and recorded a lot of videos, but he just couldn’t send them out because there were tens of thousands of people using the network in the same venue at the same time, and the 4G base station simply couldn’t handle it. With 5G, each base station can have a larger bandwidth and can carry more traffic. If the original 5G bandwidth is 100 times that of 4G, then the original 1,000 people can watch videos at the same time, and now it can meet 100,000 people watching videos at the same time, ensuring the network experience.

This is the true meaning of 5G. At this stage, we don’t have enough Internet-connected devices, and the speed improvement of 5G is not obvious enough. But in the future, more and more devices will be connected to the Internet in every household, and large transportation vehicles such as cars will also be connected to the Internet. At this time, the importance of 5G will be reflected.

We cannot predict the future

We all know that the emergence of every new technology is always accompanied by huge changes. The first computer was born in the United States. At that time, it was mainly used for some military calculations. In everyone's opinion, only the country needs such professional computing equipment, and ordinary users don't need such things at all. There are not many scenes that require complex calculations in daily life. Not only ordinary people think so, but also many business elites think so.

At that time, IBM's general manager Watson believed that the world's demand for computers only required 5 computers, and ordinary people would not need them at all. Fortunately, his son had a different view from him and saw the potential of computer commercialization. So IBM vigorously developed computers and decided to promote computers to ordinary enterprises. Soon, American Airlines took the lead in using IBM computers to develop a ticket booking system. At the beginning, major European airlines were very disdainful and wondered why they should spend millions of dollars to purchase such a system. However, people soon discovered that booking tickets with computers was more efficient and more accurate than booking tickets manually by phone. Soon, people could not tolerate the occasional inefficiency and errors in manual ticket sales, and airlines all over the world adopted computer booking. IBM also successfully became a generation of hegemons in the computer field.

Many students today have never heard of IBM, and some even think that it has been acquired by Lenovo. IBM's decline from the king was actually very fast. After IBM became a computer manufacturer for one of the world's largest commercial companies, they also thought that it was enough. Only companies need computers, and ordinary families don't need them at all. So, later there were the stories of Microsoft and HP. Such examples are endless. When 3G and 4G came one after another, Nokia, the former king of mobile phone communications, did not respond quickly. It is estimated that no one would have thought that a mobile phone that can only be used to make calls and send text messages would become the center of a person today. In addition to basic communications, it can also surf the Internet, watch videos and even handle daily work. And Nokia has long been a thing of the past.

We are always blinded by the needs of the moment. It is difficult for us to predict what the future will be like. Our current value of a technology is more based on the current needs, and we don’t know the future. 5G may not seem to be needed now, but it does not mean that it will not be needed in the future.

Consumers don’t know what they want

Apple's legendary founder Steve Jobs once said that consumers don't know what they need until we come up with our products. But when Apple released its first touch-screen phone, many people were wondering, what's the use of a phone without a keyboard? It's not as good as a computer for surfing the Internet, not as good as a TV for watching videos, and not as good as a professional game console for playing games. Nokia itself probably didn't expect that it would be defeated by such a gimmick phone several years later. It's not that users don't have needs, but they don't know what they want. Just like if you ask a coachman, he will only tell you that he wants a faster horse, not a car. Only when you put a mature car in front of him, he will know the advantages of a car over a carriage.

Today we think 5G is useless, and it is more because the existing equipment manufacturers have not brought us any eye-catching products. The current 5G equipment is simply upgrading a one-horse carriage to a two-horse carriage. However, I believe that in the near future, there will be more outstanding products, such as driverless cars. The existing 4G network is difficult to maintain stable operation. One day, when it is officially commercialized, we will have the opportunity to sigh that it is 5G that has changed our lives.

Summarize

Whether 5G is a false demand, I believe everyone has already understood. Indeed, there are many commercial factors behind 5G. But looking at history, in the 3G era and the 4G era, which one did not redefine our lifestyle? This year, the country has also decided to vigorously develop 5G technology. Companies like Huawei are gradually stepping onto the stage of world leaders. In the future, 5G will benefit everyone.