What you need to know
- 5G mmWave will only be available on the iPhone 12 lineup in the United States.
- The cutout on the side of the iPhone 12 is for 5G mmWave.
- Other countries will only support low and mid-band 5G.
Reported by 9to5Mac, the entire iPhone 12 lineup will support 5G, but only the models sold in the United States will support the highest speed 5G mmWave. The report confirms that the cutout found on the right side of the new iPhone 12 is something that will only be found for iPhone 12 models in the United States and does in fact enable 5G mmWave.
Apple today introduced the iPhone 12 lineup with four new models, all of which support 5G networks for the first time. However, the super-fast 5G mmWave is exclusive to models sold in the US. In order to improve support for the new 5G network, the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro comes with a new side cutout that has confused some people.
9to5Mac also confirmed that only iPhone 12 models sold in the United States will feature the cutout on the right side of the iPhone in order to support 5G mmWave.
Interestingly enough, models with 5G mmWave will be available exclusively in the US, so iPhone 12 models sold in other countries will not have this cutout, as you can see by visiting Apple's website from other regions.
iPhone 12 customers will all be able to enjoy all three levels of 5G coverage, but keep in mind that 5G mmWave, the fastest of the technologies, is still limited to close proximity, meaning that most iPhone 12 owners will most likely rarely come into an area that has it.
