Everything you need to know about 6G The new standard for mobile devices is expected to arrive by 2030, although doubts remain

5G became operational in 2019, introducing the fifth generation of mobile telecommunications standards. Today the industry is already working on the next technology: 6G, expected to arrive by 2030, although some markets may adopt it sooner.

For now the new standard is still in the development and evaluation phase by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency responsible for establishing the rules to be implemented in telecommunications and radio wave usage. Despite this, several companies in the sector already plan to showcase 6G at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

What to expect from 6G

6G could generate a ripple effect worth hundreds of billions of dollars, especially for companies that produce antennas and network infrastructure, including China's Huawei, among others. Those betting on this technology also emphasize its potential integration with artificial intelligence: the new standard has already been defined as "AI-native".

From a technical standpoint, the improvements 6G would bring concern primarily the uplink, meaning the speed at which data travels from a single mobile device to the Internet network. This is an increasingly relevant and in-demand technology: in recent years its demand has grown significantly, driven by the spread of video conferencing, surveillance cameras, and wearable devices.

Another area of application for 6G should involve so-called "non-terrestrial networks", which consist of the use of satellites at various orbital altitudes, with the goal of bringing fast connections to areas currently without coverage, including the most remote and isolated regions of the planet. With 6G, finally, the ability to detect objects including mobile devices  via the radio signals they emit should be introduced - this is known as "sensing": however, the idea that network operators could in some way have access to the location (more or less precise) of a great many smartphones, and therefore their users, will predictably generate major issues in terms of privacy.

5G vs 6G

The connection between 6G and technologies currently considered trending, such as artificial intelligence, is not entirely coincidental. Already with 5G, companies in the sector had relied on similar associations, emphasizing the potential of the new standard and promising applications that in most cases proved to be little more than marketing operations rather than real innovations.

5G has in fact partly fallen short of expectations, finding use mainly in very specific contexts, including coverage of high-density venues, such as stadiums, and in certain industrial settings. The media hype that had accompanied its launch had, however, helped fuel a series of conspiracy theories around 5G, which had concrete consequences, leading for instance to physical attacks on antennas - considered tools of mass surveillance.

To date it is still not entirely clear exactly how 6G will work, nor what its concrete applications will be; however, given the precedents, it is reasonable to expect that this technology too could be exploited to spread skepticism and new conspiracy theories.