Invitations for the Oct. 13 event featured the phrase “Hi, Speed,” hinting at a long-rumored upgrade that would allow the iPhone to connect to the new 5G wireless network currently bein…
By Rishi Iyengar and Kaya Yurieff| CNN Apple is finally set to announce new iPhones, after weeks of delays and pandemic-related disruptions. Invitations for the Oct.13 event featured the phrase “Hi, Speed,” hinting at a long-rumored upgrade that would allow the iPhone to connect to the new 5G wireless network that’s currently being rolled out by carriers in the United States and abroad. (The festivities start at 10 a.m. PDT and you can watch it live here and follow along in real-time on CNN Business.) Though still nascent,5G promises to deliver much faster connection speeds when it’s fully deployed. Beyond phones, It will pave the way for more connected devices: Advances like self-driving cars, virtual reality, smart city technologies and networked robots could be powered by the new network. Apple is somewhat late to the 5G phone game. Its new phone will join a growing list of options from Google, Motorola, Samsung, Huawei, LG and others. But the iPhone may be able to hold its own given its loyal fan base, and some analysts expect the 5G iPhone to generate a “supercycle” of device upgrades, potentially prompting more people than usual to buy the new device. And the fact that 5G networks aren’t completely ubiquitous yet means there’s still room to grow. Only 13% of smartphones sold in the first half of 2020 had 5G capabilities, and only 6% of customers would rank 5G as a primary factor in their next smartphone purchase, according to Ben Stanton, an analyst at research firm Canalys. “Apple is not too late to 5G, as smartphones with 5G have not yet seen mass adoption,” Stanton told CNN Business. “Part of the reason for this is that the killer use-case for 5G on mobile has not yet emerged.
