Don’t upgrade your iPhone just for 5G
Apple held its third virtual event of 2020 yesterday, announcing the new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro. One of the marquee features of the new iPhones is 5G connectivity, but as this article from The Verge correctly points out, 5G shouldn’t be enough to convince you to upgrade to a new phone.
5G has been slowly rolling out for a few years, and there has been an extreme amount of controversy surrounding it. Conspiracy theorists burned 5G cellular towers in Europe because they thought the new network was causing the spread of the coronavirus. Roughly half of iPhone users in the US think they already have 5G due to some incredibly misleading marketing on AT&T’s part (“5G E” is not 5G). But probably the worst offense to the consumer is the way that the term “5G” has been applied to two very different technologies. Dieter Bohn from The Verge sums it up well:
As you’ve likely heard by now, there are really two different kinds of 5G for phones, each operating in different parts of the radio spectrum. There’s what’s called “sub-6” 5G that’s similar to LTE in how it can travel longer distances and penetrate buildings. Then there’s mmWave 5G, which is what Verizon has been deploying so far. It does provide blisteringly fast speeds, but only if you can find it.
I often joke that mmWave is great if you’re wiling to park in one spot outside next to a specific Verizon tower in a specific city — but it’s not really a joke. Verizon’s 5G is so difficult to find and use that I’m legitimately baffled as to why anybody would want to spend the extra money to build it into a phone. I’m doubly baffled that many phones cost $100 or more extra for mmWave compatibility.
By all accounts, mmWave 5G will work if you’re standing directly next to the antenna. Walk too far away or put an obstacle in between, and your connection is gone. It may prove to be beneficial in places like stadiums and arenas where there are large groups of people (someday) and they can deploy lots of antennas, but otherwise, Verizon’s “5G Built Right” campaign is a complete sham because 99.99% of people won’t be able to use it.
Sub-6 5G, which is where AT&T and T-Mobile have focused their energy, will work more like LTE. But as of now, you’re not going to see much of an improvement in speed or reliability over the LTE connection you’ve been enjoying (or not) for years.
Something I didn’t realize until doing my research yesterday is that both AT&T and Verizon only offer 5G connectivity on their unlimited plans. If you have any of the lower tier “family share” style plans like I do, you’re out of luck. The cost of upgrading to an unlimited plan for the chance to occasionally connect to a 5G network that may or may not improve performance is not realistic for the vast majority of people. Also consider the fact that a lot of us are spending most of our time at home on Wifi, and 5G becomes a moot point.
So 5G is still a bit of a dumpster fire that most people are better off avoiding for the time being. That said, the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro support both versions of 5G with no adverse effect on price, which is a best case scenario. The iPhone 5 boosted the adoption of 4G LTE in 2013, and I expect the iPhone 12 to do the same for 5G. With an influx of new iPhones on all the major networks in the US, carriers will have more incentive than ever to beef up their 5G capacity and performance. And in the interim, all of the new iPhones will work just fine on LTE.
Someday, 5G will outperform LTE in more places across the country, but you should never buy a gadget based on what it might do someday. There are plenty of reasons to upgrade to a new iPhone 12 or 12 Pro (new design, better cameras, better screens, LiDAR, MagSafe, etc.), but 5G shouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the list.
Any questions? Thoughts? Opinions? Leave a comment below!
