5G alone won?t be enough to justify buying an iPhone this year

Apple’s invitation for its Tuesday event included the catchphrase “Hi, Speed.” Weird capitalization decisions aside, the “speed” hint embedded in the tagline lines up with the rumors: these will be the first 5G-enabled iPhones.If you’re looking to buy a new iPhone this year, even before I see these phones I can provide this simple piece of advice: don’t buy one just because it has 5G. That’s been my advice for every single 5G-enabled Android phone that’s been released thus far, and unless Apple has some reality-defying modem that enables 5G speeds in more places, it’s my advice for the upcoming iPhone as well.The problem with 5G is that it’s not good yet. After a year of testing 5G Android phones, I have yet to believe that 5G is the most important part of any of them.The reason for these speed and latency issues comes down to some complicated spectrum limitations. 5G isn’t that kind of upgrade this year, but it doesn’t hurt to have if you were planning on upgrading anyway.To bring it back to the new iPhones, my fear is that Apple is going to become part of that 5G Hype Industrial Complex.