Forget 5G, the 6G push will start at MWC this weekend

It's Mobile World Congress 2025 in a few days time, and that means a whole stack of phone-related announcements are about to drop. But, the most important thing at MWC might not be a phone.

That's because Qualcomm is going to use the show to launch a "momentous year" for 6G technology.

You won't be able to buy a 6G phone this year – the target for the beginning of commercial 6G adoption is 2030. However, Qualcomm is working with Nokia Bell Labs, as well as Rhode and Schwartz to lay the foundations for next-generation phone tech. And those foundations include AI.

What does AI mean for 6G phone connections?

Don't worry, we're not talking about the kind of AI that produces frightening images or tells you to eat poisonous mushrooms. Working with Nokia Bell Labs, Qualcomm has been testing AI-based optimisation that can learn to dynamically deliver more efficient connections, with throughput increasing in some circumstances by a whopping 95%.

If you're technically minded there's a full explanation on the Qualcomm website here.

The bottom line is that the AI-optimised connections should deliver better capacity, better reliability and better energy consumption, too. We won't even need to wait for 6G to get those benefits. The chip manufacturer intends to bring it to 5G Advanced, an upgrade to 5G that's expected to arrive in 2028.

One of the biggest goals Qualcomm is working towards is what it calls "ubiquitous connectivity" with seamless wireless connectivity available to devices big and small, satellite coverage to eliminate wireless deserts, and better utilisation of the radio spectrum.

6G is a crucial part of that, as it'll be able to access spectrum in the "upper midband" of 7GHz to 15GHz, while also eeking better performance from existing frequency bands.

So, you're not going to see any whizzy 6G devices at MWC this year, but something less obviously exciting but much more important will be going on in 2025: the groundwork to effectively standardise 6G so that everybody is following the same plan.

Exciting times. Now, if only we could get a 5G signal when we wanted it.