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Sprint on its 5G plans: You 'better believe' we're working with Samsung

The news comes after Verizon announced its partnership with Samsung for a 5G phone.

Gordon Gottsegen CNET contributor
Gordon Gottsegen is a tech writer who has experience working at publications like Wired. He loves testing out new gadgets and complaining about them. He is the ghost of all failed Kickstarters.
Gordon Gottsegen
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Samsung's upcoming 5G phone may be available through Sprint.

Angela Lang/CNET

2019 will be a big year for the next generation of cellular technology: 5G. And phone carriers and manufacturers are already announcing their plans to bring it to the masses.

On Monday, Verizon announced that it's partnering with Samsung in order to bring a 5G device to market in early 2019. On Tuesday, AT&T also revealed that it'll carry a 5G Samsung phone. Now Sprint is saying it will too.

Sprint VP of product engineering and development Ryan Sullivan revealed this during the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit. He told PC Mag, "We're one of Samsung's biggest customers. You better believe we're working with them as well." Sullivan confirmed the Samsung-Sprint 5G partnership to CNET.

Watch this: Explaining 5G with a game of pool

Sprint has plans to roll out 5G to nine cities in the first half of 2019, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC and Phoenix.

Samsung is reportedly working on multiple 5G phones for 2019, including the upcoming flagship Galaxy S10 and a Korea exclusive. IDC ranks Samsung as the world's largest smartphone brand, and many people may experience 5G for the first time through a 5G Samsung phone.

But Samsung isn't alone. In August, Sprint announced that it's partnering with LG to build the "first" US 5G phone. Sprint also announced in November that it's working with HTC on a 5G mobile smart hub.

Samsung didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.