Apple’s iPhone 13 event proves no one really cares about 5G

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Apple executives spared no superlatives this week when introducing the new iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max. The iPhone 13 Pro, they said, is the “most Pro” phone to date. The IPhone Camera Got Upgrade, and Apple tapped Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow to show off her many abilities, predicting the new cinematic mode would open up opportunities for aspiring directors. The phones, they also noted, will be the most durable yet, with new, bigger batteries down the line.

Somewhere in the middle of the 80-minute presentation, about 90 seconds were spent on 5G.

That’s a far cry from when Apple waved its shiny new iPhone 12 almost a year ago. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg joined Apple CEO Tim Cook during the 2020 keynote address to talk about 5G, which served as the main feature and reason for the upgrade. “5G has just become reality,” Vestberg proclaimed. As recently as July, during Apple’s fiscal third quarter earnings conference call, Cook said 5G was in its infancy and suggested a high cap. Yet Tuesday was barely a blip.

The relegation of 5G from the center of the stage to the secondary act underscores the bumpy introduction of next-generation wireless technology. Once heralded as a game changer with blazing speeds, 5G has actually been a hugely inconsistent set of experiences depending on devices and location. Unfortunately, the places with the highest speeds are the ones you are likely to avoid during the pandemic. The result: consumers shrugging their shoulders at what carriers hoped to inject enthusiasm and enthusiasm into wireless service.

“From an Apple consumer-centric approach, there’s no killer app – aside from a speed test – that really takes advantage of the faster speeds and lower latency,” said Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. “Why advertise something that the consumer won’t see as a tangible benefit? ”

The experience you got with 5G was already inconsistent before the iPhone 12. Verizon touted lightning-fast flavor fueled by a millimeter-wave spectrum, the type of connection that would allow you to download seasons from a TV show in seconds, but the service was only available in stadiums or crowded city centers – not the best places to be in the past year and a half. On the other side, T-Mobile touted full nationwide coverage with a version of 5G that was only slightly faster than 4G.

But Apple was supposed to bring some simplicity and spark interest in 5G, as it did with everything from mobile payments to wireless charging. Other companies jump into new technology early on, but Apple has a polished version that is rocking the masses. The fact that Apple is adding all the flavors of 5G to all of its devices in the United States was also an impressive achievement.

“5G is the most exciting step yet,” Cook said in his speech last year.

IPhone 12 sales have been buoyant from the start. A new design for the iPhone, featuring improved cameras, along with typical devotion from Apple fans, has boosted record sales of its latest flagship device. It was such a success that it drove Apple sales and profits to new records despite the launch of a pandemic, says my colleague and CNET editor Ian Sherr.

But 5G was more of a driver of interest than a driver of interest. With the iPhone 13, it might as well be in the trunk.

More than 5G in more places

This year, Cook didn’t mention 5G. Kaiann Drance, vice president of iPhone marketing for Apple, devoted a shallow 90-second segment to the wider adoption of the technology with the new iPhone. She mentioned that the iPhone 13 would be able to connect to 5G networks of more than 200 operators in over 60 countries and regions this year.

“5G will be much more relevant to consumers in Europe and the United States this year than last year, as carriers expand their mid-range 5G networks,” said Avi Greengart, analyst at Techsponential, who said reference to the flavor of the spectrum which offers a good blend. speed and range.

Even in the United States, network deployments continue.

“5G is still not really ubiquitous despite operator claims,” ​​said Maribel Lopez, analyst at Lopez Research.

But beyond this short segment, Apple offered only a symbolic mention of 5G by touting its new ipad mini and ninth generation iPad.

Apple was more inclined to talk about its iPhone’s 5G capabilities a year ago. Drance told me and my colleague Patrick Holland about the technology they incorporated in radios that have kept 5G to be a total guru on the iPhone 12 (Android makers also had similar settings).

Instead, Apple has focused this year on core features like the iPhone 13. improved camera, as good as additional autonomy.

Still, that won’t stop carriers from pushing the new iPhone, which represents one of the biggest opportunities to catch new customers or to poach subscribers from competitors with some. cheap. AT&T and Verizon, for example, already have aggressive strategies in place trade-in offers for new iPhones, while T-Mobile offers a “Forever” upgrade plan that gives you $ 800 for a new iPhone every two years.

It’s not like 5G is a failure. The problem with the technology, as confusing as its introduction is, is that there is still a lot of potential. It is still considered the foundation for other advancements such as self-driving cars and telemedicine.

Verizon and AT&T are working to roll out a new flavor of mid-range spectrum that is supposed to provide great acceleration for 5G, which T-Mobile has already done this year.

Maybe at this point Apple will find 5G interesting enough to be brought up again in a future iPhone launch.