Yesterday the U.S. was pegged to be the first country in the world to actually make 5G available on workable devices.
American telco Verizon cheekily turned on 5G in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis a week early in order to claim the title. But thanks to time zones, it seems like they were too late.
According to The Guardian, three South Korean carriers (SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus) switched on 5G at 11:00pm Korean Standard Time for six celebrities, including two members of K-pop band EXO. This apparently put its launch mere hours ahead of the U.S.
While some 5G services went online in South Korea in December 2018, they were not for mobile broadband. Plus, there were no 5G handsets available at the time.
Fortunately, regular South Korean folks don’t have to wait very long to get on the 5G train. Samsung is releasing its Galaxy S10 5G in its home country today.
Interestingly, Motorola did manage to beat Samsung to the punch in regards to 5G-enabled devices. It released the Moto Mod for the Moto Z3 a full day early in order for it to become the first 5G-enabled device available in the world to be available to the general public.
Hello world. The first phone on 5G has landed. The unprecedented performance of #5GUltraWideband can now be yours on the moto z³ with the 5G moto mod.
— Verizon (@verizon) April 3, 2019
But thanks to South Korea INB4ing the hell out of the U.S. the Z3 wasn’t quite the first device to be utitilised publicly on a 5G network.
As for Australia, there is still no firm date on when 5G mobile will be rolling out, but expect it in the coming months.
We’re probably going to see it launch on the Telstra network first, alongside the release of the Samsung S10 5G. LG’s V50 ThinQ will also be one of the first 5G phones to be sold locally.