South Korea is one of the early markets where the commercialization of 5G technology is taking place. Now, according to the reports from local publications, the pricing of 5G plans for the South Korean market has now been confirmed.

The minimum cost or the starting price of the 5G tariff in South Korea is 55,000 won, which roughly converts to 325 Yuan or $48 for the three network operations — SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+.

While the basic package of 55,000 won from SK Telecom and KT offers 8GB of data, LG U+ offers 9GB of data. However, the data limited gets significantly increased when the user opts for the higher plan.

For instance, the package worth 75,000 won (approximately 444 Yuan or $66) offers 150GB on SK Telecom and LG U+ and the package costing 95,000 won (approximately 562 Yuan or $84) offers 200GB and 250GB data.

On the other hand, the third network operation — KT offers unlimited data service in packages worth 80,000 won and more, which roughly converts to 473 Yuan or $70. However, it then caps the speed in roaming.

Earlier, the South Korea-based network operators weren’t going to set the minimum pricing for the 5G network but it is being reported that the government forced the companies to do so as it believes that otherwise, users may not use the service due to excessive pricing.

Thus, in order to obtain the required government approvals to being the 5G service in South Korea, all the three companies decided to set 55,000 won as the minimum package pricing for the 5G network. But it’s clear from the packages that the companies will be keen on getting users for the 75,000 won or higher packages.

Read More: AT&T achieves over 1Gbps data speed with its 5G network, becomes the first U.S. carrier to do so

However, do note that the pricing has not been officially revealed by the network operators but have emerged through the local publications in South Korea. Samsung will be launching its Galaxy S10 5G smartphone on 5th April in South Korea and the official 5G network pricing is also expected to be revealed at that time.

(Source)

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The Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem has been designed by Qualcomm to support 5G networks. Today, Qualcomm has confirmed that at least 18 different smartphone manufacturing companies will be launching Snapdragon X50 5G modem enabled smartphones. Moreover, the U.S.-based chip maker has confirmed that various telecom service providers from across the world will be starting the trail run of 5G networks soon.

The Snapdragon X50 5G NR (New Radio) mobile modem chipset can attain download speeds of several gigabits. In October 2017, Qualcomm had unveiled the new 5G modem and confirmed that it would be commercially available during the first half of 2019. Now that Qualcomm has released press releases for the carriers and smartphone manufacturers that will be supporting and releasing 5G smartphones featuring Snapdragon X50 modem, it seems that the company is well on track of fulfilling the promise of making 5G phones available in 2019.

The smartphone OEMs that are working with Qualcomm to launch phones with Snapdragon X50 5G modem next year are Asus, Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Connected Technologies Limited, HMD Global (Nokia), HTC, Inseego/Novatel Wireless, LG, NetComm Wireless, NETGEAR, OPPO, Sharp Corporation, Sierra Wireless, Sony Mobile, Telit, vivo, Wingtech, WNC, Xiaomi and ZTE.

Two of the major smartphone manufacturing companies namely, Apple and Huawei are missing from the list. Samsung has signed a separate cross-license partnership with Qualcomm recently which may also include plans to launch 5G enabled Samsung phones soon. Lenovo too is absent from the list.

The list of select global mobile operators that will conducing live and OTA mobile 5G NR trials include AT&T, British Telecom, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KDDI, KT Corporation, LG Uplus, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Singtel, SK Telecom, Sprint, Telstra, TIM, Verizon and Vodafone Group.

Read More: Gizmochina Explains: 5G Network Standard

Which smartphone company will be releasing the first 5G smartphone next year? OPPO CEO Tony Chen had confirmed in the previous month that it will be among the first manufacturers to release a 5G smartphone. ZTE CEO Lixin Cheng has recently claimed that a 5G ZTE phone would be launching at the end of 2018 or early 2019. Two months ago, Huawei CEO Yu Richard said that a 5G Huawei smartphone would be releasing in the second half of 2019.

5G smartphones featuring Snapdragon X50 will allow users to connect to public Wi-Fi without login. Such phones will offer ultrafast downloads, high-speed internet browsing, topnotch quality video and voice calls, lag free streaming of 360-degreee video and instant cloud access. Qualcomm will be also bringing 5G connectivity on other devices like Always Connected PCs, VR and AR.

(source 1, 2)

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We’ve ever covered the new LG Optimus F7 before, and now we got the information that LG Optimus F7 will be renamed as LG Optimus LTE III for SK Telecom.

The LG Optimus F7 is appearing at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona a week ago, the LG Optimus F7 has 2540 mAh battery capacity, can provide a full day of operation for mobile user.

This phone is sports with 2GB of RAM and has 4.7-inch full HD display with a pixel density of 312ppi screen.

The phone offers QSlide 2.0. This is the second build of the multitasking feature that allows two apps to be used at the same time. A sliding bar on screen makes one app transparent and the other app solid, and vice versa. And at 134 grams , the device is extremely light The LG Optimus LTE III is available in two colors, black or white version.

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