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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1420529
The iPhone 13 Doesn’t Move the Needle Much on 5G | What’s New (and Does It Matter for You?)) By Jesse Hollington Last year, Apple entered the world of 5G technology with a pretty big splash when it debuted its iPhone 12 lineup. In one fell swoop, Apple gave customers the potential to get the same multi-gigabit cellular speeds whether they opted for the smallest iPhone 12 mini or the flagship iPhone 12 Pro Max. It was such a big deal, in fact, that Apple even invited Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg to share the virtual stage at its iPhone 12 launch event, boasting mmWave 5G speeds of up to 4Gbps on the carrier’s “5G Ultra Wideband” network. Of course, getting those kinds of speeds not only required a compatible iPhone 12, but also living or working in one of the relatively few urban areas where Verizon’s very short-range mmWave coverage was available. Later studies showed that this didn’t really apply 99% of the time. Fortunately, Apple made sure that every iPhone 12 sold in the U.S. was capable of supporting mmWave 5G frequencies, so nobody needed to worry about whether they were getting the “right” iPhone 12 to support any U.S. carrier. However, the mmWave models were limited solely to the U.S.; those sold elsewhere only supported the slower sub-6GHz 5G frequencies. Despite rumours of an mmWave expansion, however, it looks like things aren’t going to change with the iPhone 13. The mmWave-capable iPhone 13 models remain U.S.-only this year. Total of 21 iPhone 13 Models Apple has drawn even more lines for the iPhone 13 than it did for last year’s iPhone 12 lineup. While there will still only be two North American versions of each iPhone 13 model — an mmWave version for the United States, and a non-mmWave one for Canada, Guam, Japan, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — Apple has added a new international variant. Last year, there were two other versions of each iPhone 12: A version specific to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao, and a “global” version for everywhere else. The iPhone 12 mini oddly had an extra version, with one for mainland China and another for Hong Kong and Macao. This year, however, Apple has added a fifth column, with a version of each