The Road to 6G: Interview with Qualcomm

6G was one of the major themes at MWC 2026. However, there was remarkably little hype around the topic, in stark contrast to the lead-up to 5G 10 years ago. In fact, several companies announced efforts to deliver solutions aligned to 6G focus areas — such as satellite connectivity, AI-based networks and sensing — now, using 5G-Advanced technology. I see this as validation that the goals of 6G are correct.

We now have a target date for the first commercial 6G launches. Qualcomm, alongside 58 partner companies, announced a goal of 2029, with pre-commercial 6G products expected to appear in 2028 ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics. There’s also consensus among the group that the upgrade path to 6G must be simple to address a major frustration with early 5G. The companies in this initiative span all regions and all parts of the mobile ecosystem and beyond, shown in the image below.

When assessing upcoming mobile technology capabilities, we analysts often focus on the companies that have the largest research and development budgets. There are good reasons for this. These firms are actively engaged with the design of 3GPP standards. They collaborate across the industry to create the vision and, importantly, to ensure it’s built on time and to high quality. These companies are the best sources to learn what will come next. Of course, players don’t always agree or place the same emphasis; it’s the analyst’s job to assess all the angles, draw conclusions and offer business advice.

Qualcomm is one of the key research and development-led companies that shape the mobile future. Research represents approximately 20% of Qualcomm revenue. The company is involved in silicon, radio design and compute, as well as neural and graphics processing to support several product categories including data centre, RAN, wearables, fixed wireless consumer premises equipment, smartphones, automotive and robotics.

At MWC 2026 in Barcelona, I talked with Durga Malladi, Qualcomm’s executive vice president and general manager of technology planning, edge solutions and data centre, to discuss the goals, benefits and business case for 6G.