Flagship smartphones have become really expensive this year, with many at or beyond the $1,000 mark. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 is apparently a really expensive chip because it doesn’t come with a modem and also 5G is just really complex. Fortunately, there’s the cheaper (but less powerful) Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 which includes an integrated 5G modem. We earlier found evidence that the U.S.-bound Galaxy A71 5G will feature this chipset when it lands on Verizon. There was some doubt about whether the Verizon model will support the carrier’s Ultrawide Band network when it launches, but now, we’ve spotted evidence that the device will indeed support Verizon’s mmWave network.
In some regulatory documents that were recently published, we spotted the marketing name of the device corresponding to model name SM-A716V. SM-A716V, if you’ll recall, is the model name we spotted last week on the Bluetooth SIG that appeared alongside the product name “Galaxy-A71-5g US VERIZON.” Today’s regulatory filing indicates this device may actually be marketed on Verizon as the Samsung Galaxy A71s 5G UW.
This name is important for a few reasons. First, it tells us that Verizon may carry the phone under the “Galaxy A71s 5G” branding which has yet to be announced. However, we expect the phone overall to be very similar to the other U.S. Galaxy A71 5G models. The “UW” part of the name tells us the phone will support connecting to Verizon’s Ultrawide Band network which operates in mmWave frequencies. Verizon has appended the “UW” branding to the name of several 5G devices they carry such as the OnePlus 8 5G UW, Galaxy S20 5G UW, LG V60 5G ThinQ UW, and more.
As we reported last week, the United States version of the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G should use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 chipset. The 765, 765G, and 768G are the only chipsets from Qualcomm with integrated 5G modems. That modem is the Snapdragon X52, and like the Snapdragon X55 modem paired with Snapdragon 865 devices, the X52 supports both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G networks. While we’ve seen other Snapdragon 765-powered devices with support for sub-6GHz 5G, the Galaxy A71s 5G UW would be the first Snapdragon 765 device to support mmWave 5G. It would also be the first mid-range smartphone to support Verizon’s 5G network if you exclude the Moto Z3 and Moto Z4 which required a $350 Moto Mod.
While Verizon’s mmWave network has proven to be very fast, the coverage isn’t great. You would need an uninterrupted direct line of sight with the broadcast antenna. Verizon has claimed to be launching a low-band 5G network later this year but the carrier hasn’t given any specific locations yet. The Galaxy A71s 5G UW should support the current mmWave network and the upcoming low-band network when it launches.
Keep in mind that although the information in this article comes from an official regulatory filing from Samsung, there’s a possibility that there’s an error in the filing. We will have to wait for the official launch from Verizon for more information about the phone and network compatibility.
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