How to check if my iPhone is 5G

With 5G added to so many cell plans, you might want to upgrade. After all, 5G is much faster than 4G, meaning you can download movies, games, and songs at faster speeds. Hotspotting on a 5G phone also provides much faster speeds, so you can get a lightning fast connection on any device.

If you have an iPhone, you might be wondering if you can start using 5G speeds by upgrading your cell plan. While many iPhones are compatible with 5G, some of the older models aren’t, and not all iPhone plans support 5G either. Here’s how to check if you can start using 5G speeds on your iPhone.

How to Check if You Have a 5G iPhone and Plan

You can check if your iPhone and current cell plan supports 5G quickly by checking your settings. Head to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options and tap Voice & Data. Here, you can switch your iPhone to 5G if your phone supports it. If your phone doesn’t support it, you’ll only see options for LTE and 3G.

While this may seem like the end, it might just be that your current plan doesn’t support 5G. You can check the list below to see if your iPhone is 5G compatible. If so, you just need a 5G compatible plan.

List of 5G Compatible iPhones

If you’re wondering whether your iPhone supports 5G, here is a list of all the iPhones that do:

• iPhone 13
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 Pro Max

If you don’t see your iPhone on the list, then you can’t get 5G at the moment.

Will All iPhones Ever Be 5G Compatible?

5G technology may come through the carrier, but it also requires hardware and software features to access 5G speeds. This means that older iPhones won’t ever be able to use 5G speeds.

If you want to start using 5G on an iPhone, it may be time to upgrade to a newer model or a new plan. Luckily, 4G/LTE still works fine and it’s still fast enough to get your basic tasks done if you’re not ready to upgrade.

5G has been around for a couple of years now but the rollout has been slow and plenty of iPhone and Android phones still don't have the capability to connect to a 5G network. A common question is whether a person's current phone actually supports 5G now that coverage is widespread. While any phone that mentions 5G in the product description has that capability, that detail might not have stood out if the user's local carrier didn't support it at the time of purchase.

T-Mobile currently has the fastest 5G connection for most users nationwide, based on recent reports. That might change in 2022 as a new frequency band has opened up for carriers. Verizon and AT&T will see the biggest benefit from this new addition. 5G C-Band splits the difference between the super-fast mmWave version and the slower, but more widely available, Sub-6 5G. That means the speed will be greatly increased over Sub-6 and the signal will be available to many more people than mmWave.

It's actually pretty easy to identify if an existing iPhone or Android phone has 5G connectivity and there are a few different ways to check. The most obvious is to look for a 5G symbol at the top of the screen where the network signal appears. Wi-Fi must be disconnected for the 5G symbol to appear, but if it is there, that means the phone is connected to a 5G network. Looking up the phone on the manufacturer's website is another way to find out while checking the settings is the third option.

How To Check 5G Settings

If an iPhone supports 5G, the option can be found in the Settings app on the Cellular tab under Cellular Data Options. If the model is known, it's actually very easy to know about 5G without the need to check anything, as only the iPhone 12 and 13 series support 5G at the moment. While there are rumors of an iPhone SE with 5G connectivity, only the flagships from the last two years have gained support for the fastest possible mobile internet so far.

With an Android phone, knowing the model number helps, but there are too many that support 5G to list them all here. However, a quick online search or a check in the phone's settings will be able to confirm 5G support. In the Android settings app, the user can search for 'Preferred Network Type' to see which kind of cellular connections are supported. If 5G is on the list, that means the phone can connect to the network.

Next: Why Are Airlines Freaking Out About 5G?

Source: Apple, Google