Samsung Electronics announced tie ups with eight telecom operators to bring the world’s first 5G smartphone — Galaxy S10 5G — across Europe this summer.
5G smartphone will be available with mobile network operators in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Deutsche Telekom, EE, Orange, Sunrise, Swisscom, TIM, Telefonica and Vodafone will bring Galaxy S10 5G to their customers on 5G network.
Tim Hoettges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, said: “Deutsche Telekom is excited to work together with Samsung as partner for the development of 5G experience.”
EE is switching on 5G sites in 16 UK cities in 2019. The first launch cities will be the UK’s four capital cities – London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast – and Birmingham and Manchester.
EE will also be introducing 5G across the busiest parts of ten more UK cities: Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry and Bristol.
Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer division, said: “We’ll be launching 5G across 16 UK cities this year.”
Stephane Richard, chairman and CEO at Orange Group, said: “We welcome the availability of their first 5G device ready for European 5G networks.”
Luigi Gubitosi, chief executive officer of Telecom Italia, said: “We intend to continue being a frontrunner in the development of 5G in Europe.”
Nick Read, Vodafone Group CEO, said: “We will provide customers with the benefits of advanced speeds and great services from Vodafone’s 5G network during 2019.”
The Galaxy S10 5G is powered by Snapdragon 855 combined with the Snapdragon X50 modem and supports multi-gigabit 5G connectivity.
IHS Markit analyst Heidi Adams said there are cost and design penalties for being the first to market, especially the prolific use of costly first-generation silicon to enable 5G.
The Galaxy S10 5G will be followed up by a more efficient design later this year, as Samsung is slated to adopt Qualcomm’s second-generation, single-chip Snapdragon X55 5G modem.
America misses 5G?
Verizon Communications will be the first carrier in the US to offer service for Samsung’s 5G phones. The networks are expected to be 10 times faster than current ones, improving viewing of live news and sports events.
Sprint said it will bring Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, a standards-based 5G smartphone, this summer. Sprint is executing its 5G strategy to launch its service beginning in nine cities in the first half of 2019.
T-Mobile said its retail stores nationwide will start selling Galaxy S10 5G this summer targeting its 5G mobile customers.
Comcast said Galaxy S10 5G will be available to Xfinity Mobile customers later this summer.
U.S. Cellular did not reveal its plans to bring the 5G smartphone from Samsung.
Apple, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, are yet to announce their 5G smartphone line-up. Industry analysts are expecting some announcements at the Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona next week.
Baburajan K