Sina Technology Zhang Jun
Editor's Note:
No one doubts the changes that 5G will bring.
The Internet of Things, driverless, VR, industry... the emerging technologies it has spawned are constantly refreshing people's imagination of a better life in the future.
We would like to regard this change as Thomas Kuhn's "paradigm shift": it still has many immaturities, even less than the stability of the previous generation of technology, but in the long run, it is enough to promote scientific change and turn over a new chapter in communication - that is, to change the world.
People can't help wondering Sina Technology: what are the advantages of 5G? What industries will it disrupt? How does the tariff change compared to 4G? What is China's 5G position in the world
On this occasion, Sina Technology and Sina 5G Channel jointly launched the "5G Talk" series of video columns, inviting famous people in the fields of politics, industry, education, research and application to interpret the development and landing of 5G in detail, and answer questions for readers.
Guest introduction:
Liu Chang, Vice President of OPPO, President of the Research Institute
He joined OPPO in 2008 and served successively as the head of hardware technology and mobile software. In January 2018, he was officially appointed President of OPPO Research Institute. Responsible for the research of OPPO Research Institute on cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, communication, hardware, new materials and new processes.
Previous guests:
Wang Jianzhou, former Chairman of China Mobile
Yang Chaobin, President of Huawei 5G
Glorious President Zhao Ming
Zhao Juntao, President of Ericsson China
Killer applications call for improving infrastructure
In June this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued the domestic 5G commercial license. In Liu Chang's view, the official issuance of 5G license can greatly promote the development of the entire industry chain, including equipment manufacturers, operators, terminal manufacturers, application developers, etc. "It is like a starting gun, marking that we have entered the final sprint stage of 5G industrialization."
Technically, 5G applications include three scenarios: eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC, which provide higher bandwidth, higher rate, and lower latency. Liu Chang gave a popular example to explain the application of 5G. For example, for highways, high bandwidth is analogous to lanes, high-speed rate is analogous to whether the highway has speed limits, and low delay is analogous to whether there will be traffic jams, traffic jams, etc. on the highway. "If we expand the lanes five or 20 times on the basis of the existing expressway, raise the upper limit speed to 200km/h or even 300km/h, and the expressway is not delayed, it will actually bring great convenience to our travel and the whole society."
However, there are still some disputes about 5G application scenarios for mobile phone manufacturers. Some insiders believe that there is no killer application that can drive users to replace 4G phones with 5G phones.
"This is a process of chicken or egg", Liu Chang said to Sina Technology. Looking back at the past generations of communication technologies, such as 3G to 4G, it was also the preparation of technology before the birth of major super applications.
For the specific application scenarios of 5G, he said, for example, if the high-speed rate is applied to video applications, the time spent downloading a high-definition movie may be shortened from ten minutes to a few seconds, and online viewing can also be bufferless. "It can help us to have a great experience in our daily life and entertainment."
Liu Chang even mentioned a scene similar to that in a science fiction movie. OPPO is studying the combination of new 3D technology to enable real people to "stand" in front of each other during a video call, so as to achieve a sense of immersive experience.
He stressed that the arrival of these technologies and scenarios requires 5G infrastructure laying as the foundation. "I believe that after the 5G infrastructure is improved, there will be many super applications that can be accepted by users."
Launch 5G mobile phones in China in the third quarter
According to Liu Chang, OPPO has started the layout of 5G technology since 2015. In terms of standards and patents, OPPO has currently provided more than 2600 technical papers in 3GPP and submitted more than 2000 patent applications; In product research and development, we have done a lot of exploration in mobile phone hardware and applications.
Compared with 4G mobile phones, the R&D of 5G mobile phones faces different challenges, such as antenna design, power consumption, performance design, and machine stacking. At the same time, he mentioned that 5G mobile phones will add many devices compared with 4G mobile phones, but the size of mobile phones will not increase, so much work needs to be done in device integration, stacking, layout design, and optimization of antenna performance.
In fact, OPPO has officially launched OPPO Reno 5G in Switzerland in May this year in cooperation with Swiss Telecom, and this mobile phone has become the first commercial 5G mobile phone in Europe. He did not disclose the specific sales volume.
In addition, Liu Chang revealed that OPPO will release 5G mobile phones in China in the third quarter. This product has passed the test of the National Radio Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center and China Thale Laboratory. "From the information and feedback we have received so far, our performance indicators are very good. I believe that Chinese consumers will be able to use OPPO's 5G mobile phones in the near future."
When the 5G era came, mobile phone manufacturers, including OPPO, increased their investment in research and development. The R&D investment of OPPO will reach 10 billion yuan this year. Liu Chang said that most of it will be used in the R&D and application exploration of 5G products; At the same time, OPPO will also increase the R&D team to 10000 people.
5G mobile phones will be widely popularized next year
Although the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a 5G license, the network laying of operators is still in the initial stage, and the domestic 5G mobile phones have not yet been officially commercialized.
Another problem is the price of 5G mobile phones. According to the 5G mobile phones released overseas by mobile phone manufacturers, the price is still at a high level compared with 4G mobile phones.
Liu Chang said that a new technology must start from the high-end, and then gradually sink to the low-end products. However, he believes that 5G mobile phones will eventually be within the price range acceptable to consumers. "5G is a technology that can change the society. It must be accepted by the whole society and put into the hands of the majority of users, so that it can play a role in changing the society. If it is just a luxury, just a device used by a few people, it must not have such a great role in promoting the society."
He emphasized that making 5G mobile phones affordable for every consumer is also a sign of success in the research and planning of 5G technology at the beginning. With the maturity of the network and the increase of its scale, the cost and price of 5G mobile phones will certainly fall to a reasonable level. "We predict that next year will be the time window for the large-scale outbreak of 5G mobile phones."
The following is the transcript of Liu Chang from Sina Technology Dialogue:
Sina Technology: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology just released the 5G commercial license in June this year. What positive significance do you think this has for the development of China's 5G industry?
Liu Chang: As a practitioner in the communication industry, seeing the issuance of 5G license will be a great promotion for our work and industry. No matter the society, industry or consumers, they all have a lot of expectations for 5G. Because there are many opportunities in it, which may bring a lot of commercial success.
The official issuance of 5G license can greatly promote the development of the entire industry chain. It is like a starting gun, marking that we have entered the final sprint stage of 5G industrialization. It is also like an invisible baton. The upstream and downstream partners in this industrial chain, such as equipment manufacturers, operators, terminal manufacturers, application developers, etc., will make greater efforts to promote 5G industrialization after such a landmark event.
Sina Technology: The 5G application scenario is still controversial. What do you think is the biggest change that 5G can bring to consumers?
Liu Chang: In fact, during the R&D process of 5G, three scenarios (eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC) have been defined from the technical level. In more general terms, it actually provides higher bandwidth, higher rate, and lower latency. To give a simple example, it is like a highway. High bandwidth is analogous to our lanes, high speed rate is analogous to whether the expressway has speed limits, and low delay is analogous to whether there will be traffic jams and traffic jams on the expressway. If we expand the lanes five or 20 times on the basis of the existing expressway, raise the upper limit speed to 200 km/h or even 300 km/h, and the expressway is not delayed, it will actually bring great convenience to our travel and the whole society. 5G technology is equivalent to such an invisible "highway", which gradually extends to our life, connecting people, things and the whole society in the future, so it will certainly bring us great promotion.
For specific scenarios, in fact, the industry has been constantly exploring. At present, we always hope that a killer application can be born and attract consumers. In fact, this is a process of chicken or egg. I think we should lay out the entire infrastructure in advance. With this infrastructure, killer applications will naturally be born. In fact, this is true for the past generations of communication technologies. For example, from 3G to 4G, the technology was prepared first, and then the major super applications were born.
In fact, 5G will break many restrictions in the future, such as time restrictions, space restrictions and some industry restrictions, and there will be no such barriers between them. Take a simple example. For example, when this high-speed video is applied to videos, the next high-definition video used to take a few minutes or more, but it may only take a few seconds in the future. We often encounter a scene where it takes several hours to fly to a certain place, and suddenly it occurs to us that there is a movie to watch. At that time, it is too late for you to cache. But after 5G, you can click it. Just wait for a few seconds, ten seconds, and the movie will be OK. It can help us to have a great experience in our daily life and entertainment.
In addition, there is another scene. For example, in the future, when combining some of our new 3D technologies, we can realize the video call, it is really a person "standing" in front of us to talk, with a feeling of immersive. Of course, the arrival of such technologies requires 5G technology to make the basic layout in advance.
So we are still looking forward to such applications. I believe that after the infrastructure of 5G technology is laid, there will be many super applications that can be accepted by users.
Sina Technology: What is the layout of OPPO on 5G?
Liu Chang: OPPO has started the layout of 5G technology since 2015. Our layout has two major aspects. The first is standards and patents. Before a new technology comes, it must be basic research and standards first. At present, we have provided more than 2600 technical papers and submitted more than 2000 patent applications in 3GPP; The second is the layout of specific product research and development. Because we are a device terminal manufacturer+Internet service manufacturer, we have made a lot of exploration in mobile phone hardware and applications.
For 5G, we all know that we will face problems similar to antenna design, power consumption, performance design, machine stacking, etc. Because 5G mobile phones will add many devices compared with 4G mobile phones, but the volume of mobile phones will not increase, we need to do a lot of work on device integration, stacking, layout design, and optimize the performance of the antenna. Because if the performance cannot be improved, the value and role of 5G will not be brought into play.
We have also done a lot of work in application exploration. We provide services to consumers on the basis and carrier of mobile phones. This diversified service requires 5G to combine with other new technologies, such as big data, AI, and cloud technologies, to deliver more valuable experiences to users.
OPPO has always attached great importance to R&D investment. This year, our overall R&D investment will reach 10 billion, and most of this will be used in the R&D and application exploration of 5G products. Our company's R&D team will also increase to 10000 people. It is believed that with such an investment, OPPO's products and services will be more competitive in the future.
OPPO has made preparations for 5G mobile phones in advance. We have released Reno 5G mobile phones overseas, and we will release 5G mobile phones in the third quarter in China. At present, our 5G mobile phones have passed the tests of the National Radio Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center and China Thale Laboratory. I think consumers will get OPPO 5G mobile phones in the near future.
Sina Technology: How about OPPO's 5G mobile phones sold overseas? Including what feedback does the consumer have?
Liu Chang: In the first half of this year, the Reno 5G mobile phone has been launched in Europe. We have jointly launched products with local operators in Europe. This not only reflects our technological leadership, but also attracts the attention of many media and users, and has been praised by everyone. As for the specific sales volume, it is not convenient for us to disclose.
In the second half of this year, we are now working on domestic 5G products, and relevant tests are in progress. From the information and feedback we have received so far, our performance indicators are very good.
Sina Technology: You just mentioned that 5G mobile phones are facing problems such as power consumption and endurance. How is OPPO solved?
Liu Chang: First of all, we designed according to national standards. Because there are national standards for some relevant performance indicators in terms of the endurance, we must design according to these standards. In addition, OPPO is a direct consumer oriented company. We need to meet the needs of users and let them have a good experience when using this mobile phone. This is our biggest design standard. For example, when designing performance, power consumption and battery life, we must balance the battery volume and user's battery life, and make many optimizations in software and system. At present, we can meet the user experience requirements very well.
Sina Technology: The 5G mobile phones currently released face the problem of slightly higher prices. When do you think the price of 5G mobile phones will be accepted by consumers and usher in large-scale popularization?
Liu Chang: The price figures are actually difficult to predict. Of course, I believe that 5G mobile phones will eventually be in a price range acceptable to consumers. Because our industry has always said that 5G is a technology that can change society. Since it is a technology that can change society, it must be accepted by the whole society, and it must be in the hands of the majority of users, so that it can play a role in changing society. If it is just a luxury, just a few people in the hands of the equipment, it must not have such a great role in promoting society.
In fact, making 5G mobile phones affordable for every consumer is a sign of the success of 5G technology in research and planning at the beginning. Therefore, I believe that the future 5G mobile phones must be at a price acceptable to the public. But we are now at the head stage of this industry, which needs a process. As our network matures and scales up, it will certainly meet the demands of users and reach thousands of households and every user.
Sina Technology: When do you think this time point will be?
Liu Chang: We predict that next year will be a time window for large-scale outbreaks.
Sina Technology: What will the magnitude of OPPO 5G mobile phones be next year?
Liu Chang: It's really challenging to predict the magnitude, and we can only predict some trends. On the one hand, this trend comes from the laws of technological development, on the other hand, it also comes from the historical experience of the past generations of technology. When a new technology appears, it must be designed to benefit ordinary users and the entire industry. Therefore, from this perspective, 5G technology will be popularized, it will have an explosive time point, and its cost will tend to an acceptable range.
In addition, a new technology must start from the high-end, and then gradually sink to our low-end products. And for a long time, 4G and 5G must appear in this market at the same time. Based on these trends, we will make some coping strategies internally and prepare ourselves technically.
Sina Technology: Many mobile phone manufacturers have encountered challenges in the transition from the 3G era to the 4G era. Do you think the transformation from 4G to 5G will make the smart phone industry face changes again?
Liu Chang: There must be many opportunities and challenges when a new technology comes. There must be some changes, but what is the change like? It's hard to predict. Based on some current trends, in fact, whether new entrants in the industry or the leading enterprises in the industry all the time, they can actually do their own things, and then wait for an opportunity or the outbreak of the trend. More importantly, for example, from our own point of view, we should do a good job in the accumulation of 5G communication technology itself. As just mentioned, for example, how can we design 5G technology into our mobile phones to improve its power consumption performance, the overall volume can meet everyone's demands, and the feel is also very good. This is our own accumulation in communication technology.
On the other hand, because mobile phone itself is a combination of multiple technologies, in addition to communication technology as a foundation, it has actually integrated many other technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data and cloud technology, which we are talking about most now. In addition, as a tangible product, we can reserve the materials, processes and design technologies in advance. We integrate these technologies to create the best products and services, and then wait for the arrival of this trend and the outbreak of this opportunity.
I believe that 5G will bring many business opportunities to the industry, and there will be many partners in the industry chain waiting for such an opportunity, so we are also looking forward to such a day. I think we are in such an era, which is very lucky and exciting.
