Samsung has debuted its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S10. And while the three primary versions of the handset — the entry-level S10e, the mainstream S10, and the pricy S10 Plus — are sure to get plenty of attention, it’s the fourth version of the S10 that’s going to really turn heads.
Available exclusively for Yahoo Finance parent company Verizon (VZ) this spring, and then heading to AT&T (T), Sprint (S), Spectrum Wireless, T-Mobile (TMUS), and Xfinity Mobile (CMCSA) in the summer, the S10 5G will essentially be a high-powered version of the Galaxy S10 Plus. It will also help set early expectations, for better or worse, for consumer-grade 5G connectivity.
A first taste of 5G
Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Plus is the current top-of-the-line mode for the S10 series. But that will soon change when the company begins rolling out its S10 5G this spring. The phone, which will sport many of the same underpinnings as the S10 Plus, will be among the first 5G mobile devices to hit the market this year, and will give consumers a front row seat to understand the hubbub surrounding the technology.
Like the first generation of 4G smartphones that hit the market years ago, however, the 5G experience will be spotty at best. Many cities won’t be covered with the new high-speed, low-latency, high-bandwidth cellular technology, which means 5G devices will end up falling back on 4G LTE connections.
But if developers are going to get their hands on 5G devices to help build out the apps and features that companies like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have promised, then this is the only way to do it.
I’ve seen 5G connectivity in action, but only in testing environments, so I can’t say how well it works while, say, riding a bus or sitting at a coffee shop. But if it performs as expected, you’ll see internet speeds far faster than anything available with 4G LTE.
