Sprint and LG hope to launch the first 5G smartphone next year
Details on the ground are thin, however.
Now that 5G has a complete standard for companies to use in rolling out new devices, Sprint and LG have announced their intentions to bring the "first 5G smartphone" to the US in the first half of 2019.
There aren't any details on specific devices or timing, yet, but the two companies are unsurprisingly optimistic. "Sprint is moving fast on the road to 5G and we are thrilled to announce the first 5G smartphone with the innovative team at LG," said Sprint CTO Dr. John Saw in a statement. "LG has done tremendous work developing technical designs that enable us to be among the first movers in mobile 5G. Today's announcement brings us one step closer to putting a beautifully-designed advanced 5G smartphone in our customer's hands."
Sprint already plans to launch a 5G network in six cities this year, with three more planned for 2019, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix and Washington, DC. Multi-In, Multi-Out (MIMO) tech is behind the speed boost for 5G, says Sprint, giving networks up to 10 times the capacity of current LTE tech.
