Justine Ezarik, otherwise known as iJustine, was recently joined via video by Apple’s product line manager for the iPhone, Francesca Sweet. Francesca and iJustine discussed 5G — arguably the most significant selling point for the iPhone 12 line.
The interview began with Justine talking about her first experience with 5G on the iPhone 12 and how much faster it was than LTE. The two then go on to discuss the different types of 5G that users can currently experience with the iPhone 12. Those are millimeter-wave (mmWave) and sub-6GHz.
Millimeter-wave 5G is the type most people are talking about when they refer to significant download speed improvements over LTE. It’s the faster of the two types of 5G, but it’s also very unreliable in most places. Sub-6GHz isn’t quite as fast as mmWave, but it is much more reliable and is still typically faster than LTE.
Francesca reinforced this information when asked what speeds to expect from the different types of 5G. She stated, “On mmWave, we’re seeing speeds that are up to 25 times faster than on LTE. Even on Sub6, we’re seeing speeds that are up to two times faster than LTE.”
The two also briefly discussed the iPhone 12’s new ability to shoot video in 4K HDR Dolby Vision. Francesca pointed out that even with the huge files that result from shooting this type of video, users would be able to seamlessly upload them using the iPhone 12’s 5G.
Something important to take note of is that most people won’t experience the faster mmWave 5G. This is because it isn’t yet widely rolled out, has a short throw distance, and struggles to travel through things like buildings. So if you’re planning to pick up an iPhone 12, make sure to hamper your 5G expectations just a bit.
You can check out iJustine’s great interview with Francesca Sweet below.
