Samsung has developed a new mobile data transfer technology that's potentially up to "several hundred times" faster than current 4G networks. More precisely, the company announced "the world’s first adaptive array transceiver technology operating in the millimeter-wave Ka bands for cellular communications."

Samsung says the technology "sits at the core" of a 5G mobile communications system, and it can say that with relative ease, as 5G (unlike LTE or 4G) is currently not a defined set of standards — more a vague idea of whatever comes next after 4G.

Samsung's new technology, which the company plans to commercialize by 2020, sounds impressive when it comes to data transfer speeds. In its testing, Samsung managed to transmit data at a speed of up to 1.056Gbps to a distance of up to 2 kilometers.

In practice, Samsung envisions mobile transmission of "massive" data files, which include high-quality movies, "practically without limitation."

Though 4G technology hasn't really reached the hands of consumers yet, the race to set the standards for 5G are already underway. In March 2013, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology established a working group to research 5G, and the EU announced in February it will invest 5 million euros in 5G research.

Image courtesy of Samsung Tomorrow