Qualcomm’s next processor could really kick-start 5G in 2020

The first wave of 5G phones are starting to get announced, but if today’s Qualcomm news is anything to go by, the real point of entry for the next-generation network won’t come until early 2020, when Qualcomm ships its first processor with a 5G modem built in.
That’s because so far, the first 5G phones are all a bit of a pieced-together affair. Currently, Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 855 chipset has an integrated LTE modem, and not one of the company’s 5G modems.