Aside from genuine all-screen, bezel-less smartphones, the next major innovation in the mobile industry will be 5G devices. Several companies have already confirmed that they will introduce their first 5G handsets for the US in 2019, but details about said phones are still under wraps. That won’t be the case for much longer though, as multiple rumors and reports point to MWC in February the venue of choice for at least a few of these announcements.
In fact, on Sunday, The Korea Herald added fuel to the fire with its own report, citing industry sources who claim that both Samsung and LG will “unveil their first fifth-generation network-enabled smartphones” at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona early next year. Yet another report to add to the growing pile.
As we know from previous rumors, Samsung is expected to debut four smartphone models early next year: The more affordable 5.8-inch Galaxy S10 Lite, the standard 6.1-inch Galaxy S10, the premium 6.4-inch Galaxy S10+, and finally a 5G model that will likely mirror the design of the 6.1-inch phone (with a few internal upgrades).
As for LG, industry sources believe that the smartphone maker may have adjusted its plans in order to ensure that it isn’t left behind when Samsung shows off its next-gen 5G device at MWC in February:
“LG had been expected to introduce 5G phones around May in Korea and the United States, but the company’s new mobile business leadership has changed the plan recently not to be a latecomer in the 5G market,” an industry official told The Korea Herald, suggesting that Samsung’s plans may have affected LG’s.
The Korea Herald says that LG “is likely” to showcase an upgraded version of the G7 ThinQ featuring Qualcomm’s new 5G chipsets, but it’s still unclear if LG will use the same name or call the 5G phone the G8 ThinQ instead. Either way, MWC should be more entertaining this year than in recent years with 5G on the way.
