Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G has launched in Korea. And already, some folks are complaining about connectivity woes.
Citing posts owners have made on Internet sites, Business Korea is reporting that many Galaxy S10 5G owners are having connectivity problems when the handset switches from 5G to LTE. The phone apparently has no issue connecting to 5G networks, but when folks move away from 5G and need to connect to LTE, data service is turned off and they lose a connection to the internet.
Worst of all, the smartphone doesn't get back its connection until users try to reboot the device several times over.
Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G is the fourth model in the company's Galaxy S10 lineup. Samsung has previously released a budget-friendly Galaxy S10e, as well as the standard Galaxy S10. The Galaxy S10 Plus has been the highest-end model until the Galaxy S10 5G launched.
For now, the Galaxy S10 5G is available only in Korea. Samsung is expected to start pre-orders on the Galaxy S10 5G in the U.S. this month and launch it on May 16 to Verizon's network as a short-term exclusive. The smartphone will come to other U.S. carriers later this year.
MORE: First Verizon 5G Speed Tests: Here's How Fast It Is
It's unclear exactly what is causing the problems in Korea, according to the Business Korea report. Samsung has apparently said that it has delivered all of the software required for the phone to know to switch seamlessly from one network to another. SK Telecom and LG U+, two of Korea's carriers, said that they have properly updated 5G base stations with software and haven't heard any complaints.
"We have never received such complaints and found no such problem," KT told Business Korea. “We surpassed 30,000 subscribers at 5:50 p.m. on the second day of the launch of the Galaxy S10 5G."
That said, one unidentified carrier official in Korea said the problem might be due to some sort of breakdown in telecommunications equipment not allowing for a seamless transition from one technology to another.
Whatever the case, it's bad news for Samsung and Korea's 5G network, which the country wanted up quickly to be the first in the world. Of course, 5G is just starting to roll out, so the issue will only affect a small number of people for now. But issues like this will cause some folks to wait a bit longer to get Samsung's new device until the issues are worked out.
