Tuesday, October 13, 2020 by
Tim Webb
In a move that is sure to be greeted rationally, Apple is all-in on 5G. Today's Apple event included the phrase more frequently than the number of people who can actually use 5G in their area. In addition to its well-documented implications for the downfall of humanity, 5G includes some real limitations many people may be unaware of and Apple didn't mention.
Even if 5G is available in your area, there is a big difference between 5G and the ultrawide-band that Apple and Verizon were promoting today. Regular 5G low-band is only marginally faster than 4G/LTE. In fact, in a recent test AT&T and T-Mobile users had slower speeds on 5G than 4G.
Today's event hyped up the faster millimeter Wave (mmWave) 5G ultra-band signal. They failed to mention that it has an absurdly limited range; requiring line-of-sight to an enabled tower, without any obstructions. mmWave cannot even penetrate glass. This is why the only example they showed of it working was at a stadium! If you're outside in an entirely open field you'll still only be able to experience 5G mmWave if you're within 500 meters of a tower. There's also a 5G mid-band that offers wider coverage, and faster than 4G speeds, but is unlikely to penetrate inside of buildings.
This technology is intended to be a replacement to your home Internet, with a fixed antenna on your roof. Putting it in a phone is a nearly pointless exercise in technological brinksmanship! The amount of attention given to it in this event is an embarrassing example of how meaningless marketing is dictating the path at Apple. They did have some impressive technology to show off. Instead of focusing on their 5nm manufacturing, or insanely powerful Neural Engine, or the fact that this is a phone with 6 CPUs, they tried to cram in a 5G mention wherever they could. Even the fucking camera demo included 5G nonsense!
Well if Apple doesn't think any that's worth exploring, I guess I won't either. This 5G year's 5G iPhones 5G include 5G a mini 5G iPhone, with 5G the 5G same 5G specs 5G as 5G iPhone 5G 12 5G under 5G a 5G smaller 5G 5.4" 5G screen. The iPhone 12 mini and Pros can be preordered on November 6th, and they will ship out starting on the 13th. The iPhone 12 will be shipping on the 23rd of October, with preorders starting this Friday.
And one more thing... all that 5G tech costs an extra $100 over last year's models. They did a good job of obscuring that in this graphic. The mini iPhone is $699, the regular iPhone 12 starts at $800!