Why Isn’t Anyone Excited About 6G This Time?

Metaverse Planet October 2, 2025Last Updated: October 2, 2025

2 minutes read

Qualcomm has announced 6G, but there’s a strange atmosphere surrounding it. With the promises of 5G still largely unfulfilled, what will the next generation of connectivity truly be for? Do we need more speed, or is it something else entirely?

The initial signals about the future of 6G were recently given by Qualcomm, a leading name in the tech world. Under normal circumstances, such announcements would spark great excitement among tech enthusiasts, eagerly anticipating the next big revolution. However, this time, the situation is different. There is a palpable lack of general enthusiasm, as if something is missing. It feels like this is the first time we aren’t excited about a new technological advancement, even with 6G on the horizon. So, what could be the underlying reason? For many, this atmosphere is directly linked to the fact that the grand promises made about 5G technology have yet to be fully realized. The idea of moving to the next generation seems premature—even slightly pointless—when we haven’t yet experienced the full potential of 5G.

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5G’s Promises vs. Reality

When 5G was first introduced, it felt like a science fiction movie script. Fully autonomous vehicles, interconnected smart cities, devices communicating through the Internet of Things (IoT), and revolutionary advances in virtual and augmented reality experiences—these were presented as the “world-changing” developments that 5G would bring us. Yet, when we look at the reality today, we see that most of these ambitious promises haven’t materialized. For the majority of users, the concrete benefit of 5G is often limited to being able to download files slightly faster on their phones. While this is certainly a positive development, it hardly aligns with the “revolutionary” transformation that was touted.

More importantly, widespread 5G connectivity is still lacking. The number of people who can experience the promised power of the technology remains quite limited. Furthermore, there is a distinct lack of “must-have” applications for the average consumer—the kind that truly necessitate the ultra-low latency or high bandwidth features of 5G.

Do We Really Need Faster?

This situation leads us to an important question: How meaningful is it to put a more powerful engine in a car that is already stuck in traffic? Or, when our current internet connection is more than enough for streaming 4K video on YouTube, playing online games, or having high-quality video calls, why are we constantly focusing on even faster speeds? Even the current 4G/LTE networks can successfully handle most of these tasks. The vast majority of applications we use on our phones work perfectly well with existing speeds. So, what kind of “real” and “essential” benefit will 6G actually provide us?

The effort to transition to 6G before fully realizing 5G’s potential means resources are being diverted to the next big thing. This could ultimately delay the broader deployment and genuine utility of 5G. Perhaps the industry’s priority should be making existing 5G networks accessible, reliable, and stable everywhere, rather than chasing ever-higher speed records. Focusing on developing innovative and transformative applications that genuinely require this next generation of connectivity would also be more logical. Otherwise, like 5G, 6G may end up being a technology defined more by its inflated promises and bragging rights about numbers than by its actual real-world impact.