The MWC (Mobile World Congress) trade show, which was held in the Spanish city of Barcelona earlier this year, saw a whole host of companies unveil their new products. While some of those products are slated to go on sale at some stage during this year, others are just prototypes or proof-of-concept designs which may or may not ever roll out commercially. However, one product that will definitely reach consumers fairly soon is the LG G5, which is the next-generation flagship smartphone from South Korean consumer electronics company, LG Electronics. At the same event last month, Samsung Electronics also gave the world’s media their first glimpse of its latest smartphones – the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.
Coming straight to the point, US Cellular, the fifth largest independent wireless carrier in the United States, will reportedly start accepting pre-orders for LG’s latest flagship smartphone from the 28th of this month. According to the report, the smartphone will be available at US Cellular stores from the 1st of next month, and will come with a price-tag of $636 without a contract. Those willing to sign-up for a two-year period can get the device for a down payment of just $199, with a monthly payment of $26.50 for 24 months. While the carrier is yet to confirm or deny the report, LG has already announced its plans to launch the device in the US early next month, so it wouldn’t actually be a massive surprise if indeed this report turns out to be true, but there’s no way of telling that at the moment.
As for the four larger carriers, while Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are all expected to sell the device on their respective networks at some stage, there’s no word as to when that might actually start happening. What is, however known is that LG will bundle loads of freebies with the G5 for the first three weeks of the phone’s commercial availability. Those buying the device between March 28th and April 17th are expected to get a free spare battery, a wireless charging cradle and a USB Type-C adapter. The combined retail value of the freebies are said to be in the $80 range.