As we previously covered, the iPhone 12 is finally allowing Apple enthusiasts to connect to 5G. We’re back with fresh data to see how user adoption and new 5G rollouts have affected performance worldwide.
Unique 5G-capable device counts have leveled off
After the launch of various iPhone 12 models, the daily count of unique devices worldwide that are capable of connecting to 5G spiked significantly compared to the year as a whole. The daily trend of unique 5G-capable devices as a percentage of the whole year is dramatically higher than before the iPhone 12 models launched, but has remained relatively steady since December.
Pro 5G and Pro Max 5G are the most popular iPhone 12 models
We looked again at Speedtest® results from the launch date of each model, this time including data through the end of January, to see which iPhone 12 models are the most popular. This time we added five additional cities for a total of 20 major cities across the globe. We still found that most Speedtest users have opted for the “Pro” models.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max 5G showed the highest number of samples among iPhone models in Bangkok, Kuwait City, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Hong Kong, New York, London, Madrid and Sydney. This was a change for both London and Madrid, which had previously had more samples from the iPhone 12 Pro 5G.
The iPhone 12 Pro 5G showed the most samples in Seoul, Zürich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona and Tokyo. While the more affordable models were less popular than the Pro models across all the cities on our list, the iPhone 12 Mini saw the most adoption in Tokyo and the iPhone 12 5G saw the most adoption in Rome and Madrid.
Seoul tops list of iPhone 12 5G speeds
As before, we analyzed Speedtest Intelligence® data for iPhone 12 devices in these 20 cities and found that Seoul had the fastest median speed over 5G, followed by several of the major cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Kuwait City, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh.
It is also interesting to observe that, in the highly dynamic European market where many different network rollout approaches are possible, 5G download speeds in seven of nine European cities fell between 135-160 Mbps range on the iPhone 12. Helsinki and Warsaw were the exceptions in Europe, with 241.98 and 61.14 Mbps median download speeds, respectively.
Operator breakdown: iPhone 12 performance in select cities
We also expanded our operator analysis to 10 cities. The following charts include median 5G speeds over iPhone 12 models of top operators with sufficient samples.
Operator rankings did not change in the four cities we previously analyzed. LG U+ in Seoul, China Mobile Hong Kong in Hong Kong and KPN Mobile in Amsterdam still had the fastest median 5G download speeds over the iPhone 12 in their local markets.
Barcelona showed similar speeds by operator to those in Madrid. We could not yet determine whether Vodafone or Orange’s 5G networks were fastest for iPhone 12, but both providers had a solid lead over Movistar in both Madrid and Barcelona.
United Arab Emirates was the fastest country for mobile according to the January 2021 Speedtest Global Index™. As the capital and the second most populous city in the country, Abu Dhabi contributed to this average with median 5G download speeds of 396.06 Mbps on the iPhone 12 for Etisalat and 211.83 Mbps for du.
In Bangkok, AIS showed the highest median 5G download speed over the iPhone 12 at 362.68 Mbps. TrueMove H followed at 242.22 Mbps. These two operators also had the highest number of Speedtest results over iPhone 12 among all operators analyzed for this article. Another popular operator in the region, DTAC, is not included in the chart due to limited iPhone 12 5G samples.
Data from Speedtest Intelligence reveals that Sunrise had the fastest median 5G download speed over iPhone 12 by a considerable margin at 328.32 Mbps.
Telekom in Berlin comfortably had the fastest median 5G download speed over iPhone 12 at 249.16 Mbps.
As mentioned above, median 5G speeds over iPhone 12 lagged in Warsaw when compared with other European cities analyzed. This is likely due to the fact that the auction of 3.4-3.8 GHz bands did not take place as planned in Poland because of the pandemic. As of this analysis, Orange and T-Mobile’s 5G speeds for iPhone 12 devices were faster than Play, which trailed with 42.53 Mbps. We also saw 5G tests from Plus in Speedtest Intelligence, but the operator is not included in the above chart due to lack of iPhone 12 samples compared to other operators.
We will continue to monitor how Apple’s 5G-capable devices impact the global market. Contact us to learn more about how Speedtest Intelligence can help you understand the latest developments in your market.
To learn more about the data behind this article and what Ookla has to offer, visit https://www.ookla.com/.
Sign up to receive our stories in your inbox.
Data is changing the speed of business. Investors, Corporations, and Governments are buying new, differentiated data to gain visibility make better decisions. Don't fall behind. Let us help.
Sign up to receive our stories in your inbox.
Data is changing the speed of business. Investors, Corporations, and Governments are buying new, differentiated data to gain visibility make better decisions. Don't fall behind. Let us help.
