The next standard for wireless connectivity has been in development by the 3GPP cellular standards group for some time now, and won't be ready for a while yet - at least not until 2018. But now the group has officially adopted "5G" as the name going forward, and created the above logo for it.

Why is this important, you ask? Mostly because it's called 5G, and not another iteration of the existing 4G LTE branding. This should make it easier for general consumers to understand, as opposed to the recent LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro standards.

The technology itself is still years away from rolling out, with the 5G Phase 1 specifications due sometime in late 2018. While the exact definition has not been finalized, 5G is expected to focus more on higher capacity than the faster speeds 4G introduced. This should help tremendously, especially with smartphones becoming more accessible and the Internet of Things trend taking off.