LG V50 ThinQ 5G won't be coming to all US carriers

Whenever a new flagship smartphone from an internationally famous brand gets announced, carriers in the US usually race to announce their support for it. With the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, however, almost the opposite has happened. It was already expected to land on Sprint first since LG and the operator have been working closely on this handset. The other giants, however, has mostly been silent though now Verizon is proud to say that it, too, will be getting one of the US's first 5G phones.

Given how few actual 5G smartphones have been announced so far, that may not be a surprise. But considering how carriers are desperately racing towards that 5G utopia, you'd think they'd grab every opportunity they can to make a 5G-related splash. AT&T, after all, has become the butt of jokes for its "fake" 5G label.

Sprint and LG, however, have been working together for almost a year so, naturally, LG's first 5G phone would be headed to the carrier. It might actually be more surprising that it wasn't exclusive to Sprint for some time. It is, after all, Sprints first and so far only 5G phone to be announced and much of the renders for the V50 ThinQ had Sprint's branding all over it.

Verizon, however, didn't want to be left behind and wanted everyone to know that the LG V50 ThinQ 5G would be its third 5G phone. Yes, third, after the Moto Z3 with the 5G mod and the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. For all its 5G frenzy, AT&T has curiously let this one pass.

Although Verizon was the only one to give a Summer 2019 timeline, neither of the two carriers mentioned prices. Given the cost of the technology, however, the LG V50 ThinQ 5G is expected to be a lot more expensive than the LG G8 ThinQ, even if the latter is overloaded with features. Then again, LG did cut out a few features from the V50 ThinQ perhaps to bring the price down to a more acceptable level.