Does this mean that I will now have to have a 5G phone? Or does it matter.
You won’t need one.
But you will, in time, upgrade to one.
Just like 2G just died a few weeks ago. You didn’t need to get a 3G or better, but when 2G was shut off nobody cared because everyone had upgraded.
Yes, 5G is a different technology and you would need millimeter band antennas as well as updated handset components to use it.
As I said, 4G has a lot of legs left in it, with 4x4 MIMO and some other tweaks that bring theoretical speeds to 400Mbps.
The 5G is faster, but its real benefit will be fewer dead zones and far more interoperable options to ensure you have a signal even when you’re far from a tower. Think Google Fi.
Again, this technology is years away from initial deployment until standards are completely settled out, OEMs have to manufacture carrier-ready back-end appliances to support it, and virtualization of the core environment is still in its infancy.
Even if you just bought a phone this year, it’s going to be good for a long time to come.