5G Phones Much Faster than LTE Phones

A download speed comparison of 5G and LTE phones  

Ookla said on Dec. 16 that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (5G phone released this year) has a median download speed of 221.18 Mbps, that of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (5G phone released last year) is 199.91 Mbps, and 122.17 Mbps is that of the Galaxy Note 10+, which was released in 2019 at the beginning of commercial 5G services in South Korea.

“On the other hand, Samsung LTE phones are much slower,” it said, adding, “The speeds of the Galaxy Note 8 released in 2017 and the Galaxy S9+ released in 2018 are 53.74 Mbps and 60.41 Mbps, respectively.”

It also said that Apple’s first 5G phone, that is, iPhone 12 released last year has a download speed of 193.34 Mbps whereas that of the previous model is 56.96 Mbps.

According to Ookla, the iPhone 13 is slower than the previous model in Canada, France, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. “The figures show that 5G phones are good choices in South Korea, where commercial 5G services started in as early as 2019 and 5G communications are much faster,” it said.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra showed a median download speed of 148.64 Mbps in Australia, 121.53 Mbps in Canada, 114.06 Mbps in Bahrain, 92.31 Mbps in the United Kingdom, 89.41 Mbps in France, 69.78 Mbps in the United States, and 67.09 Mbps in South Africa. The Huawei Mate 40 Pro showed a median download speed of 280.22 Mbps in China and that of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in Japan is 81.08 Mbps.