There is no doubt the upcoming Xperia XZ Premium is packed full of powerful hardware that’s sure to make it a phone that will age nicely as tech continues to advance. One such feature is its networking capabilities:

 Xperia XZ Premium is powered by the cutting edge Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835 Mobile Platform, making it one of the very first smartphones capable of Gigabit Class LTE (up to 1Gbps). 

According to Qualcomm’s own press release, they’ve:

 worked closely with Telstra, Ericsson and NETGEAR on the world’s first Gigabit Class LTE mobile device, and the first Gigabit Class LTE commercially ready network. The results of this relationship includes: The NETGEAR Mobile Router MR1100, based on the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X16 LTE modem along with Qualcomm® Wi-Fi solutions, which is the first consumer end device capable of reaching Gigabit Class LTE download speeds up to 1 Gbps; and Telstra’s new Gigabit Class LTE network enabled by Ericsson. Together, they create a new breed of mobile applications and experiences for immersive virtual reality, near-instant access to cloud storage and services, incredibly fast downloads of multimedia content and more. With delivery of the final NETGEAR Mobile router design, Telstra will now complete comprehensive device, network and user testing ahead of commercial launch in the coming months. 

Now one thing I’m unclear about here is if this means the Xperia XZ Premium supports the upcoming 5G standard or not as the wording is vague. Serge Willenegger, Senior Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies:

 Qualcomm Technologies has long been a leader in LTE, pioneering many of the building blocks for 3G and 4G and now paving the way to 5G. We’re excited to celebrate this milestone with our partners and to demonstrate our leadership in the commercialization of key technologies that will be foundational elements of future 5G deployments. 

By the time 5G or any network that can deliver Gigabit Class LTE is rolled out, the XZ Premium will likely be an aged phone but for Sony, this does make for some good marketing material if nothing else. What’s your take? Does the Xperia XZ Premium support 5G with its Gigabit Class LTE?