Samsung is launching its first 5G smartphone later this week

The 5G era of wireless connectivity is about to get to underway with the launch of one of the first 5G-capable smartphone.

Samsung has announced that it will release the Galaxy S10 5G in its home of South Korea on April 5th. The base model, with 256GB of internal storage, is set to cost 1.39 million won (approximately $1634.30 CAD). The S10 5G will make its way to North America later this year when it launches on Verizon in the U.S. June.

According to Samsung, the S10 5G’s 5G modem can achieve download speeds that are 20x faster than on a traditional LTE network.

“We are at the beginning of a new era where the incredible speed and connectivity of 5G becomes a reality, bringing the world closer to Samsung’s vision of connected living,” said DJ Koh, president and CEO of Samsung’s IT and Mobile Communications Division. “We are proud of the work we’ve accomplished to bring our first 5G smartphone to market and look forward to bringing it to everyone around the world in the coming year.”

With the first 5G spectrum auction currently underway in Canada, it’s unlikely we’ll see any 5G smartphones launch here for at least the foreseeable future. For better and worse, it will likely take a few years before Canadian carriers start rolling out any Sub-6Ghz and mmWave spectrum.

Source: Samsung