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• Full specs and no mmWave after all

AT&T works with all the major smartphone OEMs like Samsung, Apple, and even Google, but there are some jobs that call for a carrier-branded budget phone. Jobs, apparently, like getting millimeter wave 5G into your hands for two benjamins. Say hello to the AT&T Fusion 5G.

The Fusion 5G will cost $219.99 or $6.12 per month on an AT&T payment plan. For that meager sum, you get sub-6 and mmWave 5G, a 48MP camera, a 6.8-inch 720p display, and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. It also has wireless charging and quick charging of an unspecified speed. That’s not bad for the money, but AT&T hasn’t specified the chipset beyond confirming that it’s MediaTek, and some of those chips are pretty crummy. We’ll update if we get full specs.

Physically, the Fusion 5G doesn’t look like anything to write home about. There’s a big chin, and we don’t know who manufactured it. Still, it’s cheap and has all of AT&T’s 5G. I’m not sure anyone needs mmWave, but it’s not like anyone’s going to force you to buy the Fusion 5G when it comes out on January 7th. At least… that wasn’t in the press release.

UPDATE: 2022/01/05 13:45 EST BY RYAN WHITWAM

Full specs and no mmWave after all

We’ve gotten the full specs of this phone from AT&T. It’s got a Dimensity 700, which isn’t as bad as some of MediaTek’s cheaper chips. See below for the full rundown. There’s some bad news, too. AT&T mistakenly told us that this phone had mmWave 5G, but it only supports sub-6—AT&T says this was an “oversight” on its part. Millimeter wave is not something I generally think you should care about, but this would have been a very, very cheap way to get it.