The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) reported that the number of announced 5G devices has broken the 250 barrier, spurred by a surge in 5G phone announcements. In January 2020, the number of announced 5G devices exceeded 200 for the first time; by early March, over 250 devices had been announced with GSA identifying 253 announced devices, of which at least 67 are commercially available today. 

‘‘We are at a fascinating turning point in the industry where the whole ecosystem is embracing, pushing and delivering new 5G spectrum, networks and devices,” commented Joe Barrett, president of GSA. ‘‘The rate at which new 5G devices are being announced and the diversity of form factors points to continued rapid deployment and uptake of new 5G services. Based on vendors’ statements, we can expect more than 50 additional announced devices to become commercially available before the end of June 2020, and at GSA we’ll will be tracking and reporting regularly on these 5G device launch announcements for the industry as we continue to take the temperature of the 5G ecosystem.”

As more devices become commercially available, GSA is tracking vendor data on spectrum support. The latest market data reveals that just over two-thirds (68.0%) of all announced 5G devices are identified as supporting sub-6 GHz spectrum bands and just under one-third (30.8%) are understood to support mmWave spectrum. Just under 25 percent of all announced devices are known to support both mmWave and sub-6 GHz spectrum bands. The bands known to be most supported by announced 5G devices are n78, n41, n79 and n77.

Part of the GSA Analyser for Mobile Broadband Devices (GAMBoD) database, the GSA’s 5G device tracking reports global device launches across the 5G ecosystem and contains key details about device form factors, features and support for spectrum bands.

By mid-March 2020, GSA had identified:
•          16 announced form factors
•          81 vendors that had announced available or forthcoming 5G devices
•          253 announced devices (including regional variants, and phones that can be upgraded using a separate adapter, but excluding prototypes not expected to be commercialized and operator-branded devices that are essentially rebadged versions of other phones), including at least 67 that are commercially available:
o       87 phones, (up 25 from end January), at least 40 of which are now commercially available (up from 35 at end January). Includes three phones that are upgraded to offer 5G using an adapter.
o       76 CPE devices (indoor and outdoor, including two Verizon-spec compliant devices not meeting 3GPP 5G standards), at least 13 of which are now believed to be commercially available
o       43 modules
o       17 hotspots (including regional variants), at least nine of which are now commercially available
o       5 laptops (notebooks)
o       5 industrial grade CPE/routers/gateways
o       3 robots
o       3 televisions
o       3 tablets
o       3 USB terminals/dongles/modems
o       2 snap-on dongles/adapters
o       2 drones
o       2 head-mounted displays
o       1 switch
o       1 vending machine
 
GAMBoD is a unique search and analysis tool that has been developed by GSA to enable searches of mobile broadband devices and new global data on Mobile Broadband Networks, Technologies and Spectrum (NTS). The 5G devices database contains details about device form factors, features, and support for spectrum bands.

GAMBoD is a resource dedicated to promoting the success and growth of the Mobile Broadband (MBB) industry and ecosystem and is fully available to all employees of GSA Executive and Ordinary Member companies and GSA Associates who subscribe to the service.