IMO, any discussion of new phones should include 5g in the discussion. Unlocked verses locked is a moot point with Verizon.
Personally, I'm holding out for 5g phones (when they come down to a reasonable price). In every area that they turn it on, 5g will give better and more reliable coverage, reception, and throughput. 5g is supposed to provide useable speeds at lower signal strengths than LTE can offer, in other words, the phone will work just as good at 1 bar as it does with 5 bars. In areas that don't have 5g available, the phones will fall-back to 4g LTE.
"The 5G spectrum includes all type of spectrum including low band and mid band spectrum of the 1G through 4G LTE frequencies as well as the new high-band spectrum, also known as millimeter wavelength (mmWave)." https://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/5g/understanding-5g-spectrum. Initially, they will only be using the lower bands because the infrastructure is already in place. This is the reason that 2g has been shut down and 3g is being shut down, the carriers are using those bands for 5g. It is NOT true that 5g will only be useful in dense urban environments. Also, the beauty part of 5g is that it can use multiple bands simultaneously.
Personally, I'm holding out for 5g phones (when they come down to a reasonable price). In every area that they turn it on, 5g will give better and more reliable coverage, reception, and throughput. 5g is supposed to provide useable speeds at lower signal strengths than LTE can offer, in other words, the phone will work just as good at 1 bar as it does with 5 bars. In areas that don't have 5g available, the phones will fall-back to 4g LTE.
"The 5G spectrum includes all type of spectrum including low band and mid band spectrum of the 1G through 4G LTE frequencies as well as the new high-band spectrum, also known as millimeter wavelength (mmWave)." https://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/5g/understanding-5g-spectrum. Initially, they will only be using the lower bands because the infrastructure is already in place. This is the reason that 2g has been shut down and 3g is being shut down, the carriers are using those bands for 5g. It is NOT true that 5g will only be useful in dense urban environments. Also, the beauty part of 5g is that it can use multiple bands simultaneously.
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