We knew Samsung would be launching a tablet or two at tonight’s big Mobile World Congress kick off event, but it turns out the company also had a couple of other surprises of its sleeve. The Galaxy maker kicked things off with a handful of 5G and infrastructural announcements, including a new 5G Home Router.
Samsung didn’t offer much in the way of news around the the device, save for the fact that the router will enable a top data rate of 1Gbps, which is a number often cited when discussing 5G.
The company’s 5G products are currently in pre-commercial testing in the Korea, Japan and the US, “represent[ing] the final leg of a journey towards industry 5G adoption,” according to the company. Trials of Samsung’s 5G devices will begin this year, but the company is staying cagey about precisely when it will actually roll out for widespread commercial use. Understandably so, given the how massive of an undertaking it will ultimately be.
The router will require placement in the user’s window, alongside one of the 5G radios also announced at the show today. The company has been working closely with Verizon on network deployment, with a representative from the carrier winkingly telling Samsung that he hoped we’d be seeing a 5G smartphone this time next year.