This decade, 4G — compared to 3G and 2G — has already delivered huge gains in performance: from 150 megabits to over 1 gigabit. Through the next decade, 5G is building on this with not just an evolutionary growth in bandwidth, but also better use of wireless spectrum, and improved connection reliability that would not only improve existing use-cases, but also provide essential flexibility and innovation space for new applications.

This flexibility is essential, and so became a core part of the 5G specification, which covers extreme bandwidth (eMBB), ultra-low latency and wired-(URLLC) and space for billions of connections (mMTC) — seeding the potential for new apps and services to grow without worrying about limitations. This isn’t vacant enthusiasm either: we have so many mobile-first services available today didn’t exist prior to 4G smartphones, and with smartphone ubiquity and utility so obvious and global its a safe bet that 5G would again yield a flurry of new and innovative services, experiences and investments.