Last year, Apple introduced the iPhone 12 lineup. At the same time, the company also confirmed the handsets would feature 5G connectivity for faster cellular service. They did that alongside Verizon, with the carrier touting its network coverage and speeds. What they did not do, though, is tell folks that keeping 5G on would noticeably impact battery life on your new phone.
According to a bill of materials analysis conducted by research firm Counterpoint, Apple's latest iPhone 12 costs the company 21 percent more than an equivalent iPhone 11, or nearly a one-fifth difference in terms of components cost between this and last year's models.
3G hasn't been the standard network option for years now, and Verizon itself hasn't been activating 3G phones for quite some time. But that doesn't mean the company is ready to shut down its 3G network just yet.
Right now, the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max all feature both sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G connectivity options. However, outside the United States that's not the case, with the iPhone 12 lineup only supporting the slower sub-6GHz option. But that may change with this year's offering.
More and more people who own an iPhone 12 have taken to user forums and social media to complain of problems with cellular coverage — specifically, dropped 5G and LTE connectivity.
Apple is thought to have been working on its own cellular modem for years now. The company is reportedly ready to introduce it in the iPhone and iPad Pro models to be released next year.
By default, your iPhone uses the Smart Data mode feature in iOS to ensure that 5G data (and voice) are used only when doing so provides a noticeably better experience. You can manage your 5G settings if you'd like to manually optimize 5G networking on the handset. In this post, you’ll learn how to optimize 5G on your iPhone for either speed or power consumption.
With the arrival of the iPhone 12 came an alphabet soup of abbreviations and different 5G icons in the iOS status bar, ranging from 4G masquerading as 5G to 5G Ultra Wideband. Follow along with our tutorial to learn the meaning of all those iPhone 5G icons.
Apple allows you to control whether things like iOS software updates or TV shows and movies should take full advantage of 5G cellular data on the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Follow along with us as we show you how to control whether FaceTime, TV, Music and third-party apps should use more cellular data for enhanced experiences or reduce their cellular data consumption.
Using 5G networking on Apple's latest shiny drains the battery about twenty percent faster than 4G, according to testing conducted by Tom's Guide. The twenty percent reduction when using fast 5G networking translates into a two-hour hit in terms of battery life versus 4G.
The iPhone 12 lineup supports 5G, but there's a limitation with one of the previous features Apple introduced some time ago: Dual SIM mode.
Did you know that there are smartphones out there that support 5G, and they were on the market before the iPhone 12 lineup was announced? Well, Samsung's not afraid to remind you.