5G seems to be a long hard road as of now. The availability is still extremely limited & there are not too many 5G phones out there. The only phones that have 5G available right now have a latest gen Snapdragon 855/855 Plus with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem installed separately with extra antennas. Including that modem separately with all those antennas cost quite a bit so, the 5G phones that are available right now cost a lot. Qualcomm will have the new Snapdragon X55 built in their upcoming flagship SOC (Snapdragon 865) but, that's not gonna be cheap either.
But, in the upcoming year 5G will likely expand to countries like India and to expand the usage to general public, mid-range 5G phones will be needed. Now, when I say mid range, I do not mean lower mid-range. So, budget 5G phones will probably take some time. But, higher mid-range smartphones are probably in the making already. Qualcomm & Mediatek are both working on mid-range SOCs that'll come with 5G support. The rumored Snapdragon 735 is expected to come out at the end of this year or early next year and it may have 5G support. As the rumors suggest, we may actually see Realme and Xiaomi use that SOC in one of their upcoming mid-range phones. It is also possible that the regular Redmi K30 will use the same SOC & support 5G out of the box.
Mediatek is also preparing for 5G since a very long time. So, it won't be surprising if they come out with a mid-range 5G SOC around the same time as Qualcomm. After the success of their Helio G90T, this new 5G SOC can be a great competitor to the Snapdragon 735. So, 5G in mid-range isn't far away & we may start seeing these smartphones coming out as soon as the first half of next year. I still don't know how much these smartphones will actually cost but, under 30K INR would be my best guess.
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