I remember when 5G first rolled out, with so much promise, and testing the new ultra-fast speeds that, in some areas, on offer. It was a big leap forward for the best phones.
At this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), taking place in Barcelona, Spain, the spotlight is now on 6G, the next step in mobile connectivity – which could be here sooner than you might think.
Qualcomm, among industry leaders – from Nvidia, to T-Mobile, Cisco, Ericsson, and many more – has asserted its backing of 6G, with commercial projects slated for as soon as 2029.
But 6G isn't just about faster speeds. Its main focus is on artificial intelligence (AI), because who would have it any other way? In 2026, AI is a cornerstone of industry, and the way we leverage it will, in theory, be improved by 6G.
" 6G is being designed as an AI-native system that builds upon three key pillars: connectivity,wide-area sensing, and high-performance compute," reads Qualcomm's official release on the matter.
Not that Qualcomm has all the say here, of course, it's the 3GPP – the Third Generation Partnership Project – that agrees the standards, with input and advice from key stakeholders.
Back in 2024, '6G Scenarios and Performance Requirements' was investigated, setting into motion what the next-generation RAN – that's Radio Access Network – would need to deliver for 6G.
Qualcomm's release continues: "These next-generation networks will feature new and advanced capabilities, including intelligent radios with integrated wide-area sensing capabilities, virtualized and cloud RAN with high-performance and energy-efficient compute, AI-based network autonomy, as well as edge and centralized data centers for entirely new AI workloads."
It's clear that AI is the hot word here. But 6G will have to manage such massive data demands, as artificial intelligence models increase, that the standard's cloud systems will be a vital part in shaping how it operates for better use-case scenarios.
With MWC, many big industry players are setting out their stall. Nvidia has also released a statement on committing to "Build 6G on Open and Secure AI-Native Platforms", with many operators and infrastructure providers also cited.
"6G is more than the next step in wireless evolution," says Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm CEO.
"It is the foundation for an AI-native future that distributes intelligence across devices, the edge, and the cloud, and transforms network providers into AI-driven enterprises."
We'll have to see how that takes shape over the next few years. But it's clear that AI is here to stay, to evolve – and the sort of demand that will require is going to need 6G to deliver in the near future.
