RedCap
Reduced Capability NR: Rel-17 lower-complexity 5G devices with 20 MHz BW and fewer antennas for IoT use cases like wearables and industrial sensors.
RedCap exists because full-fat 5G NR is overkill — and too expensive and power-hungry — for a whole class of devices that still want to be on a 5G network. Introduced in Release 17, it deliberately strips the device down: a narrower maximum bandwidth (around 20 MHz in FR1), fewer receive antennas, relaxed processing, and other simplifications that cut the modem cost, size, and battery drain. The target is the middle tier of IoT — wearables, industrial sensors, surveillance cameras — that needs more than NB-IoT can offer but doesn't justify a premium NR modem.
The way to place it is on a spectrum of capability. At the low end you have NB-IoT and LTE-M for tiny, infrequent traffic and years of battery. At the high end, full NR for phones and demanding applications. RedCap fills the gap in between — moderate data rates, moderate cost, native to the 5G system so operators can eventually run these devices on the same network as everything else. That "stays on 5G but cheaper" positioning is the whole point, and it's why RedCap is sometimes pitched as the natural successor to LTE Cat-4/Cat-1 style devices.
Frequently asked questions
- Is RedCap the same as NB-IoT?
- No — they sit at different points on the IoT scale. NB-IoT is for very low-data, ultra-low-power, often deep-coverage devices (meters, simple sensors) sending small amounts infrequently, with multi-year battery life. RedCap is a step up: a simplified 5G NR device with higher throughput (up to ~20 MHz bandwidth) for things like wearables, cameras, and industrial sensors that need more than NB-IoT but less than full NR. RedCap is reduced-capability NR; NB-IoT is a separate, much narrower technology.
Related terms
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