When did 5G arrive, and what specification release defined it?

5G launched in mid-2018, defined by 3GPP Release 15 — the first release to specify the 5G NR (New Radio) air interface.

* One generation per decade: year, standard and radio technology. *

The 3GPP release that matters: Mobile generations aren't switched on by a single company on a single day. They're frozen as numbered 3GPP releases. Release 15 (completed 2018) was the first to standardize 5G, so it's treated as the birth of 5G.

Why "release" thinking matters:

• A generation evolves across several releases. Release 15 was the foundation; later releases (16, 17, 18...) added features like better industrial IoT, positioning, and what's marketed as "5G Advanced."
• It explains why early 5G phones (2019) were limited compared with later ones: they only implemented the first release.

Timeline anchor for the whole topic:

• 1G: 1979 (NTT, Tokyo)
• 2G/GSM: 1992
• 3G/UMTS: 2001
• 4G/LTE: 2009
• 5G/NR: 2018 (Release 15)

Tip: Roughly one new generation per decade since 1979 — a clean memory hook for the oral exam.

Go deeper:

• 5G (Wikipedia) — confirms NR was first specified in 3GPP Release 15 and documents the 2018 standardization vs the 2019 first commercial launches.