LG’s V50 ThinQ 5G phone will go on sale Thursday for Verizon customers for $999 according to a press release Tuesday. This will be the third phone for the carrier capable of faster speeds, after the Galaxy S10 5G and Moto Z3 equipped with a 5G Moto Mod.
It’s expensive as you might imagine, but it might be a better deal than at its rival if you don’t factor in a current promo. Big Red is selling the V50 for either $1,000 up front or $42 per month over two years, a fair discount over Sprint’s $1,152 outright price and $48 per month.
If you buy quickly, Verizon will both waive its $10 extra charge for 5G and as much as $650 off the device price if you both switch and trade in a handset.
This is the most affordable 5G-native phone on Verizon when Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G starts at $1,300 ($54 per month). It’s also not as ambitious with a smaller, more conventional screen, but it beats having to choose between a giant, particularly expensive flagship and a mid-range Motorola phone that needs a mod to connect to 5G.
Verizon currently has 5G available in certain areas in Chicago and Minneapolis with plans for a rollout in 20 more cities later in the year. In a 5G speed test, data downloads peaked at 1.3 gigabits per second, which was faster than Sprint’s 5G network test.
