Samsung Moves Closer to 6G with Latest Speed Achievement

Samsung, in addition to producing smartphones, is actively developing network technology devices. The South Korean technology company has recently announced its latest achievement in testing sixth-generation (6G) mobile network technology.

The testing was conducted by Samsung in partnership with one of South Korea’s largest telecommunications operators, KT Corporation, and Keysight Technologies. The trial was held outdoors at Samsung’s research and development campus in Seoul, South Korea.

In the testing, Samsung and KT tested eXtreme multiple-input multiple-output (X-MIMO) technology on a 7 GHz frequency band. The technology was tested using a 6G base station prototype equipped with 256 digital antenna ports, achieving download speeds of 3 Gbps.

When compared with current real-world 5G network speeds globally, this figure is considerably high. In everyday use, many 5G users still rarely experience stable download speeds approaching 1 Gbps.

The 3 Gbps speed achievement is noteworthy because in this trial, Samsung, KT Corporation, and Keysight Technologies employed a simulation approach that closely resembles “real-life” or actual everyday usage. Unlike trials typically conducted in laboratories, this 6G X-MIMO network technology testing was performed outdoors to simulate real-world usage conditions.

In the testing process, researchers streamed eight data streams from the base station transmitter to user devices. The trial leveraged KT Corporation’s expertise in replicating outdoor network conditions, which is considered to closely approximate real-world usage scenarios.

The system features antenna elements up to four times more abundant than conventional 5G base stations. Samsung stated that this antenna expansion has no impact on the physical size of the network device, with its dimensions remaining relatively similar to previous generations.