CES 2019’s mediocre 5G demos set the stage for a confusing year

During a 5G-focused Mobile Innovation event at last year’s CES, Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon said he hoped to appear at 2019’s show with a working 5G phone on a live network. Since there were exactly zero 5G phones or networks in existence at that point, his plan sounded ambitious, but his quiet confidence made the outcome seem both inevitable and worth waiting for.