Back in March 2022, Nicole Nguyen of The Wall Street Journal compared the battery life effects of 5G vs. LTE by streaming videos on several iPhone and iPad models. She found that using LTE saved significant battery life. (It would be nice if someone re-ran similar tests on more recent devices — just because it was true with the iPhone 13 Pro doesn’t mean it’s true with current models. But I’ll bet it is.)
Anyway, linking to her report, I wrote:
With both regular 5G and LTE, I typically get between 50–100 Mbps
down — and I see a regular 5G connection far far more often than
I do 5G ultra wideband. I don’t see any practical advantage to
regular 5G compared to LTE. Those crazy-fast ultra-wideband
download speeds are like owning a car that can go 200 MPH. So I’m
just going to set my iPhone to use LTE all the time and save
battery life. I’ll turn 5G Auto back on if I ever run into a
situation where my LTE signal seems weak or slow.
Which rings several bells with my “A Tale of Two Modems” post yesterday, regarding an AppleInsider report that data stolen from Apple supplier Tata Electronics shows that Apple is going to use Qualcomm’s mmWave-supporting cellular modems only in models of the iPhone 18 Pro sold in the U.S.
But so what happened to my LTE setting? If I switched to LTE in 2022 because the battery life savings were noticeable and 5G’s faster download speeds were not, how’d I wind up back on 5G in 2026 and switching to LTE again only earlier this month?
I don’t remember exactly, to be honest. I do know that I never switched back to 5G because I found LTE slow. As best I can remember, I switched back at some point when testing a new iPhone and … just stopped thinking about it and never switched back to full-time LTE. But I’m on LTE again now, and I’m not switching back unless (a) I do find LTE slow, or (b) someone publishes results from a testing showing that 5G no longer consumes more battery power than LTE on current iPhone models.
Oh, and to that point — a few readers emailed to say that one reason to prefer 5G, especially if you’re within range of a mmWave tower, is if you’re sharing your cellular connection to a Mac (or multiple Macs) via hotspot tethering. Yes, for sure. Another point that’s been raised is that 5G is supposedly better than LTE in crowded/congested situations like a stadium or arena full of people. Maybe? But in both cases, you know those situations when you encounter them, and you can use LTE all day most days and just turn on 5G when you’re using your iPhone as a hotspot, or when you find yourself in a crowded stadium. I’m saying try turning 5G off day-to-day, not telling you to sign up for a cellular plan without 5G (which I’m not even sure you can buy anymore).
