HTC and China Mobile have announced signing a 5G Devices Forerunner Initiative, with the companies to work together on accelerating the production and deployment of 5G devices and infrastructure in China.
The announcement, made during Mobile World Congress Shanghai (MWCS) 2018 this week, will see the two companies aiming to push "mass VR adoption" and sales for the Vive virtual reality (VR) headset maker.
"The program aims to launch the first batch of pre-commercial 5G devices for a large-scale trial application showcase, encompassing applicable scenarios for 5G devices, product configuration, technical solutions, testing and verification, and product research and development," HTC said.
"By collaborating with the major telecommunication carrier in China, HTC aims to both advance the development of 5G technologies into our daily lives, and also to accelerate mass adoption of VR/AR."
HTC chair Cher Wang said the tech company had similarly played a role in the 3G and 4G eras with product development, and will continue to do so in 5G.
"With the coming advancements in next-generation mobile technologies, the proliferation of 5G networks will facilitate new classes of use cases for VR/AR not possible in the past, leading to more rapid mass adoption and more natural interaction models for immersive technologies, thereby realising the promise of Vive Reality," Wang said.
Following the approval of 5G standards in December, China Mobile had announced -- alongside Huawei, Ericsson, Intel, Nokia, Samsung, AT&T, BT, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Fujitsu, KT Corporation, LG Electronics, LG Uplus, MediaTek, NEC Corporation, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Qualcomm, SK Telecom, Sony Mobile Communications, Sprint, TIM, Telefonica, Telia Company, T-Mobile USA, Verizon, Vodafone, and ZTE -- that the global mobile industry can begin the full-scale development of 5G New Radio[1] including