MORRISVILLE – As the world’s communication providers push to develop and deploy next-generation wireless service known as 5G, an executive at Lenovo says the international tech firm will be the first to market with a smartphone that supports the technology.

Chang Cheng, a vice president at Lenovo, says on social media in China that Lenovo is bringing to market a phone that will utilize a forthcoming chip from Qualcomm that will support 5G.

AT&T recently announced that the Triangle and Charlotte markets will be among the first where it will offer 5G service.

In a recent blog post, Melissa Arnoldi, president, AT&T Technology & Operations, disclosed some of the test results from ongoing trials of forthcoming 5G, and the speed, the ability to penetrate obstacles, the lack of latency, and more are impressive.

5G is seen as the broadband technology that can make the Internet of Things truly ubiquitous for businesses from data center to office as well as greatly enhance the speed (also reliability) at which people stream, text and read via the ever-growing web of mobile devices.

Yet some news sites were skeptical about Chang’s claim.

“No other detail about the handset was provided and Lenovo will have stiff competition from a number of rivals as they all try and push their 5G devices out towards the end of this year and into 2019,” reports TechRadar.

And NDTV in Japan points out that Cheng has overstated Lenovo’s capabilities in the past.

“Cheng has earned a reputation of exaggerating claims in the past,” NDTV said.

“With the Lenovo Z5, Cheng posted exaggerated teasers ahead of the launch, claiming for a notch-less display, mammoth battery, and more. However, the Lenovo Z5 was a dampener when it finally launched with a display notch and a 3300mAh battery. Therefore, we recommend you take all his announcements with a pinch of salt.”

NDTV also noted that several other smartphone firms such as Huawei are developing 5G handsets for release in 2019. Qualcomm has numerous 5G partners as well, including Xiaomi, Nokia, Song, LG and ZTE. According to NDTV, rumors indicate Samsung will offer 5G support with the Galaxy S10.

Lenovo operates one of its two global headquarters in Morrisville. The other is in Beijing.