5G for the Pinephone?

[antiwesley]

With the release of the Explorer Edition, is there or are there going to plans to update our modem to a 5g modem, or should I just save money to get the newer phone?

[zetabeta]

With the release of the Explorer Edition, is there or are there going to plans to update our modem to a 5g modem, or should I just save money to get the newer phone?

modem chip is integrated into main board. so, it cannot be upgraded to nr5g modem. you probably mean new model which has nr5g modem. i think nr modules are too expensive at this moment. maybe year or two, nr modules might be worth it.

nr has too sub technologies, standalone and non-standalone. current nr implementations are non-sa, which means nr frequency bands are extended into lte. some nr benefits come when standalone mode hits for wide usage.

[Kevin Kofler]

Which newer phone? The PinePhone and the PinePhone Pro use the same 4G modem, a Quectel EG25-G. PINE64 has not released any 5G cellphone, and I am not aware of any plans to release one at this time.

What is sure that upgrading the modem if and when a 5G model will be out will require replacing at least the mainboard if not the entire phone, because the modem is soldered on the mainboard. But waiting for a 5G model does IMHO not make any sense at this time, since there are no public plans for one.

[KC9UDX]

Probably nobody wants this, but shouldn't it be possible to make a battery-case-like wraparound thing with a 5G modern in it?

[Kevin Kofler]

Most likely yes, or even a backcover replacement like the keyboard etc., or you could just plug a USB modem into the USB-C port (even the built-in modem is a USB device after all), but it will also need software support. And the speed will be limited by USB 2 speeds in all scenarios.