Median download speeds for 5G phones were a step change faster compared with 4G in the third quarter, regardless of where you live in the world, according to measurements by Ookla. In the United States, the iPhone 13 came in at 95.1 Mbps, which was nearly three times as fast as the iPhone 11 at 32.08 Mbps during Q3 2021. On the Android side, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G clocked in at 69.78 Mbps, almost twice the fastest 4G device surveyed, the Note10+ at 35.98 Mbps.
However, the U.S. underperformed when compared to other countries. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, had the fastest 5G speeds in the world on the iPhone 13, clocking an eye-popping 485.59 Mbps download speed, which was more than four times faster than on the iPhone 11.
On Android, the UAE was also first, followed by Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The Samsung Galaxy S21 5G showed a median download speed of 285.39 Mbps in the UAE compared to 215.10 Mbps in South Korea, while the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G showed a median download speed of 269.09 Mbps in the UAE and 261.21 Mbps in Saudi Arabia.
The UAE speeds were fast even using 4G. “Even the slowest 4G device, the Huawei P30 Pro, had a median download speed of 68.26 Mbps in UAE compared to 30.20 Mbps in the U.K. on the same device,” Ookla said.
China saw the most dramatic jump in speeds afforded by 5G compared with 4G. The Huawei Mate 40 Pro 5G with 280.22 Mbps towered over Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro (4G), which maxed out at 22.80 Mbps. Median download speed on the iPhone 13 was more than ten times faster than on the iPhone 11.
“China was home to the largest performance increase when comparing the iPhone 11 to the iPhone 13,” Ookla said. “Some of this difference may reflect market conditions where users in more rural areas have older phones and poorer infrastructure, but it’s still an impressive difference.”
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By J. Sharpe Smith Inside Towers Technology Editor
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