5G gets a logo despite technology being years away

3GPP, the organization that governs cellular standards has formally announced the new formal 5G branding, as noted by TelecomTV. The next generation of cellular data networks has been commonly referred to as “5G” for some time now.

Although 5G is still years away from actual implementation on the devices you use in your day-to-day life, at least it has a logo now. 3GPP’s release of the initial 5G Phase 1 specifications is not planned until late 2018.

The 5G branding is a step away from the more complicated 4G / LTE days, where carrier marketing and changing specifications often made it unclear what exactly you were talking about. For example, when AT&T and T-Mobile decided that they’d rename HSPA+ 3G data as “4G” to better keep up with Verizon’s 4G LTE back in 2011, or the various flavors of LTE, LTE Advanced, and LTE Advanced Pro that we now have. The logo is also designed to appear similar to the various LTE logos to show a consistent evolution of the product.