Sprint is working hard on bringing 5G to the masses. While the company may soon merge with T-Mobile, it’s still making an effort to roll out the next generation of cellular connectivity to its customers. That is good news to anyone currently on Sprint — and it could end up being good news for T-Mobile customers, too.

SPRINT 5G

It looks like Sprint customers could have access to 5G tech sooner than anticipated. Sprint and HTC have announced a partnership that will see the two companies release an innovative 5G smart hub to customers who want to be early adopters of 5G technology.

Not much is known about the smart hub just yet and the overall design, name of the device, and price have yet to be announced. Qualcomm is also working with Sprint and HTC on the product, and it will reportedly use a Qualcomm x50 5G modem with gigabit LTE capabilities. It’s possible that the device could end up being used as a kind of mobile hotspot though, again, well have to wait until more details are revealed.

Previously, Sprint announced the first cities that it planned to roll 5G out, too. The first nine cities include the likes of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and New York City. Manufacturers are also working on releasing 5G, too — Motorola announced a Moto Mod for the Moto Z3, however, the mod will only work on Verizon’s 5G network.

Once Sprint and T-Mobile do finally merge, it could have a significant impact on the rollout of 5G. Sprint and T-Mobile have publicly said that the merger will help with their rollout of 5G technology, so we could see the joint company, to be called T-Mobile, speed up its 5G rollout once the merger is complete. 2019 will also likely be the year that we start seeing more 5G-enabled smartphones. Qualcomm has already announced 5G modems that can be used in partners’ smartphones, and Apple is reportedly working on integrating 5G into the iPhone for 2020.

 

THANKS TO: DIGITAL TRENDS

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