LG and Huawei both have exciting new flagship smartphones in store for us at this years Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain. In fact, the fresh new LG G6 might be the star of MWC 2017 this year, as you saw in our hands-on LG G6 preview. Nokia has a handful of buzzy new handsets to show off as well. Samsung wont take the wraps off of its new flagship phones at MWC this year, but the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are due to be unveiled late next month and if rumors hold true, theyre going to blow us away.

Out of all of those exciting new devices headed to the market in the current months, not a single one can pull off the feat ZTE just achieved with the new ZTE Gigabit Phone that was just shown off at MWC 2017: 1Gbps download speeds.

Remember how all of the major wireless carriers forced us off of unlimited data plans back between 2009 and 2011, so that they could push us onto more expensive tiered data plans? Well guess what: unlimited data is back well, unlimited data is back, at least and as you might have guessed, its even more expensive than the pricier tiered plans carriersforced us onto in recent years.

Why the sudden interest in unlimited data plans again? The answer lies in a joke I tweeted the other day:

The timing is a bit ambitious give me a break, it was a Twitter joke but as they say, truth is often said in jest. Carriers are retraining their subscriber bases to embrace unlimited data plans. With 5G on the horizon, a 4GB, 6GB or even 10GB plan wont hold up very well when youre dealing with download speeds that approach 1Gbps.

And speaking of 1Gbps download speeds, ZTE on Sunday took the wraps off its first 5G-capable smartphone, the ZTE Gigabit Phone.

ZTE calls the Gigabit Phone a forward-looking smartphone, which essentiallytranslates to concept phone that will never actually be sold. The Gigabit Phone isnt intended for retail, however. Instead, its intended to showcase 5G and the lightning-fast upload and download speeds that will come along with it once 5G networks begin to roll out. Remember, this isnt the distant future were talking about here; Verizon will fire up its 5G networks in at least 11 different markets this year in a just-announced test program.

The ZTE Gigabit Phone is powered by theQualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, which featuresan integrated Snapdragon X16 LTE modem. The solution combines wireless carrier aggregation with44 MIMO antenna technology and 256-QAM modulation to achieve download speeds of up to 1Gbps. These arent theoretical speeds, mind you the phone is on display right now in Barcelona, where show goers can watch live demos of the Gigabit Phone handling gigabit downloads.

We are thrilled to introduce the worlds first smartphone with download speeds up to 1Gbps. With the new device, the way people stay connected will be changed forever, a ZTE spokesperson said. Focusing on 5G technologies will be one of the key priorities of ZTEs global development. ZTE will be very glad to leverage its technology strength and experience in 5G to cooperate with government and business partners to discuss and facilitate the upcoming 5G era.

The question of whether the ZTEGigabit Phone is a true 5G phone is a bit foggy. ZTE calls it pre 5G, featuring technologies that will help provide massive speed boost to bridge the gap during carriers transitions from 4G to 5G networks. Think of it as being akin to HSPA+, the 3G technology that AT&T and T-Mobile spent so much timemarketing as 4G.

Of course to the end user, the technology behind 1Gbps download speeds wont matter very much while he or she is live-streaming 360-degree panoramic video and enjoying near-instant access to cloud-based content.

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ZTE unveils the Gigabit Phone, the world's first 5G smartphone with 1Gbps download speeds - BGR