There's a faster Galaxy S20 5G coming to Verizon in Q2
The Samsung Galaxy S20 5G release situation is a mess, of that you can be sure. It happened largely because of the strange way in which 5G is launching, with more than one sort of "5G" being legitimately tagged with the name, and Samsung switching the way it markets its hero phones, and different phones having different mobile data access... It's not a simple situation. So Verizon decided they won't launch their Samsung Galaxy S20 at the same time as everyone else.NOTE: Each mobile carrier has their own way of marketing 5G connectivity. The two versions we're looking at today are Verizon-centric, so here's the key to that:
• "Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband (MMW) network" = mmWave
• "Verizon's 5G low-band network" = sub-6
For quick reference, mmWave is faster and shorter-range, while sub-6 is slower and longer-range. Sub-6 5G is far more common around the world today, as we discussed recently. It's also important to note that Verizon won't have sub-6 5G coverage until later this year – we'll know more about that timing soon, too. It's all a conundrum, really.
This is a different version of the S20
The Samsung Galaxy S20 launching with Samsung – shown by Samsung today, here in February of 2020 – does not have the ability to connect to the same sorts of 5G as the other two Galaxy S20 devices, called S20+ and S20 Ultra. The Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra can connect to both mmWave 5G and sub-6 5G, while the Galaxy S20 can only connect to sub-6 5G, while the S20+ and S20 Ultra can connect to sub-6 5G AND mmWave 5G.
SEE TOO: Our Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, Ultra hands-on
Verizon decided they did not want this Samsung Galaxy S20, this first version of the S20, with its inability to connect to mmWave 5G. Instead, Verizon will launch a different S20 in the future.
A Verizon representative today said that they will have "a version of the GS20 in Q2 that will work on Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband (MMW) network."
It's important to note, here, that when the representative says that the S20 will have access to "Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband (MMW) network", they're making a distinction between that added connectivity and the connectivity of the device that'd otherwise have been launched – an S20 with only sub-6 5G. This new S20 has both sub-6 AND wideband (mmWave), just like the S20+ and S20 Ultra.
Pricing and Release
Based on what Verizon's told us so far, the pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S20 will be pretty much on-par with the device revealed here in February. That means that this Verizon Samsung Galaxy S20 released in Q2, 2020 will start at $41.66 a month for 24 months on Verizon Device Payment (0% APR; $999.99 retail).
The Samsung Galaxy S20 released by Verizon will appear in Q2. That's what Verizon's suggested. That means they'll release their Samsung Galaxy S20 at any point after April 1, 2020. The Samsung Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra will be put on pre-order with Verizon on February 21, and released in stores on March 6, 2020.