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When Apple executives show off the iPhone 14 in California next week, as is widely expected, you probably won’t notice many changes to the phone. Rumors suggest the notch where the selfie camera sits may be smaller, and Apple will likely tout camera improvements or newly introduced always-on screen technology. But the feature the company will be betting on most to attract customers will be the one introduced two years ago: 5G wireless.
Sure, for some people, 5G is yesterday’s news. For others, it’s just a bigger number than 4G that came before. But increasingly, data is piling up that indicates 5G wireless is becoming nearly as important in today’s iPhones as battery life and storage, the two features people watch out most for when buying their phones. The current wireless standard, which has been available for several years now from all of the major US carriers, is also the second-most cited reason people told researchers at the consultancy Deloitte that they’d switched mobile providers, behind „better value for the money.“
This is a far cry from how 5G was perceived at launch and in the early years, when the service switched on with lots of fanfare but little actual coverage. But the carriers have poured billions of dollars into the infrastructure and airwaves to support it, which has resulted in better service in many places.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of 5G’s biggest boosters, citing it nearly every time he’s discussed iPhones in public since first offering the technology with the iPhone 12 in 2020. „5G has been an accelerant,“ he said in July when discussing future prospects for his company’s handset, despite rising inflation and a looming recession. „I think there’s reason to be optimistic.“
Read more: How to Watch the iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8 Launch Event
Every year seems to be a test of the iPhone’s continued popularity, and that’ll continue with good reason this year too. The iPhone is the company’s singular most important product by nearly any measure. Apple rang up more than $191.97 billion in iPhone sales last year, which was more than half of its overall revenue. Much of the iPhone’s technology has seeped into the rest of its business as well, with related products like the Apple Watch, AirPods headphones and iPad tablet becoming multibillion dollar businesses unto themselves.
