This article delves into the industrial evolution of lens antennas for future millimeter-wave and sub-THz radio access applications. Here, we address the potential advantages of applying lens antennas with respect to traditional phased array antennas, which are widely used in base station products, and we also describe how lens antennas may fulfill the strict requirements of next-generation radio access systems in a cost-effective and sustainable way. A comparative study of several in-house experimentally validated parallel-plate fully metallic Luneburg lens antennas in terms of radiation performance and manufacturability is finally provided.