China Mobile has announced the launch of its 5G-Advanced, or 5.5G, network. At the same time, OPPO announced that its flagship smartphones Find X7 and Find X7 Ultra already support the new high-speed connection standard.
OPPO top manager Pete Lau posted on the Weibo social network a photo of the Oppo Find X7 Ultra, on the display of which the inscription 5GA is visible. At the same time, a teaser for the same series of smartphones appeared on the Internet, mentioning a new communication standard. Thus, both gadgets could become the first commercial devices to support 5.5G.
The operator plans to extend the new standard to 300 cities in China by the end of the year, and demonstration sites have already been opened in some of them where the new network can be tested. The 5.5G standard is the marketing name for the 3GPP Release 18 protocol. On paper, it “squeezes out” up to 10 Gbit/s for download and 1 Gbit/s for transmission.
In addition, the 5.5G standard provides for the use of satellites in the form of additional base stations. OPPO has a related teaser of the X7 Ultra smartphone. This technology is announced on it, but the company does not directly state that this model supports this function.