The race is on for 5G. There’s no doubt about it. Everyone wants to manufacture (and hopefully sell), a 5G capable smartphone. It’s not just about phone-makers, it’s also carriers and service providers. It’s a trend. It’s an inevitability. Some manufacturers are playing the waiting game, while some are racing to be the first.

Some manufacturers are only teasing. Others show proof. A Xiaomi phone was pictured running on a 5G network. Shortly after, Vivo committed to delivering an NEX-based 5G capable smartphone by 2019. Now Huawei sub-brand Honor is making 5G promises as well. Company CEO George Zhao said that the first 5G Honor smartphone will arrive sometime next year.

The executive spoke at the World INS Conference in Beijing over the weekend where he broke the news. No further details were made public. 2019 is relatively vague, but it’s still good to know that a brand regarded as an “affordable” smartphone maker is committed to 5G.

With the arrival of 5G, the efficiency of smartphones and Cloud will increase exponentially, and the era of intelligent phones will arrive simultaneously. Meanwhile, the era of full-speed AI phones will come as well“, he said. Because of the 5G focus, the CEO also sees Honor as a top 5 brand by 2020, and top 3 by 2022.