In May, a U.S. district judge ruled that longstanding practices regarding the sale of smartphone chips sold by manufacturer Qualcomm violate federal antitrust law. Judge Lucy Koh agreed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Qualcomm broke the law by requiring royalties from equipment makers in smartphone chip sales.

Now, just a few months later, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put the brakes on the judge’s ruling that Qualcomm had to immediately revise all its contracts, which would have upended its business model before the company’s appeal could be heard. As welcome as the Ninth Circuit’s stay may be, if the lower court’s overall decision is affirmed by the Ninth on appeal, that ruling will impact the freedom of U.S. consumers to purchase world-class technology. This case is another strong signal that when it comes to buying the latest smartphone, the government has no business meddling with what has become an American birthright to choose the latest and the best technology. 

What exactly is at stake for consumers? If you have ever been tempted to whack your smartphone as it loaded slower than a snail race across peanut butter, fifth-generation cellphone technology, or 5G, will not be just an improvement. It will be so blazing fast that it will feel like real time.

Qualcomm’s own testing shows that 5G will increase speeds by a factor of 20. This means you will be able to download a feature-length HD movie or a whole season of your favorite streaming series in seconds. The action on interactive games on your mobile device will respond as fast as Han Solo with a DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. Wireless virtual reality will be convincingly immersive.

True-to-life entertainments are one thing, but 5G promises to push several nearly-there transformative technologies over the finish line.