The sky’s the limit for 5G app developers

There are now around 1.4 billion 5G connections across the globe, a figure projected to hit eight billion by 2028, according to data from independent research firm Omdia. This would make it by far the most widely adopted cellular technology ever, surpassing 4G LTE by 2.5 billion subscriptions.

There's particular appetite in the mobile industry for the possibilities offered by 5G Standalone (5G SA), so-called true 5G which isn't subject to any of 4G's limitations. This supports capabilities including network slicing, ultra reliable, low-latency communications and massive machine type communications (mMTC), which can all help to power a dazzling range of new use cases.

As well as delighting consumers and enabling businesses, this new era of 5G innovation is presenting fresh horizons to the developer community. Improvements in data speeds, latency and network capacity are making it possible to create the kind of applications that are powering smart cities and injecting new life into the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. And developers can now integrate AI and ML into their applications, offering an ever more sophisticated user experience. Moreover, the expanding number of 5G networks globally means .

But there remain challenges to overcome before the fruits of all this creativity can be set before potential adopters at scale. For one thing, developer skill sets are not yet familiar or aligned with the complexities of today's network architectures. The world of communications remains a second, non-native language for most of them. Some in the industry believe this is as it should be - ie application developers don't need to be intimately familiar with network architectures, but should still be able to weave network capabilities into their apps.

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