With Apple’s new iPhone set to be announced in September, and 5G starting to roll out across major networks in the UK, tech site musicMagpie revealed that over a fifth (23%) of UK adults think Apple currently offers a 5G phone.
The truth is that Apple won’t actually be launching a 5G enabled phone until 2020.
The poll of over 2,000 people in the UK, which was commissioned through YouGov, found that 91% didn’t actually know the new Apple device that’s being revealed in September wasn’t going to be 5G enabled.
Among those who were already likely to upgrade/ buy the new iPhone model 11, after finding out it won’t be 5G enabled, 30% were less likely to upgrade to/buy the new model.
In addition to this, only 31% of those surveyed could identify 5G enabled phone brands such as Oppo, LG, Xiaomi, Huawei and OnePlus.
When asked about upgrading or buying the new iPhone overall, a staggering 83% of UK adults stated they weren’t likely to buy or upgrade to the new iPhone 11 at any point in the future.
Jon Miller, MD of Electronics at musicMagpie, said: “If the new iPhone was going to be 5G enabled, we would have heard about it by now, especially after all the rumours and leaks that surround new launches. What’s interesting to see is that a huge number of consumers aren’t thinking about upgrading to the new iPhone at all, regardless of whether it has 5G or not.
“There’s a variety of reasons for this, lack of innovation from Apple being one of the main points. However, if this does turn out to be the case, and the iPhone 11 just doesn’t do the sales it needs to, there will be massive implications for the whole of the mobile device market. This is also true of the second-hand market where we will see people hold on to their handsets for even longer than anticipated.”
In addition to the misconceptions around the new Apple device being 5G enabled, musicMagpie, also found that 66% of UK smartphone users weren’t prepared to pay a monthly premium for 5G.
5G technology is set to be much faster and more reliable, with greater capacity and better response times than the current 4G connectivity for mobile phones. With 5G being rolled-out by the major networks over the next few months, the poll found that 60% of respondents weren’t likely to upgrade to 5G with their current provider, even if it was considered a reasonable monthly cost.
When it came to upgrade prices, 66% stated that they wouldn’t be willing to pay any additional money for a 5G enabled phone, whilst 23% said that they would only be willing to pay up to an additional £10 per month.
In terms of awareness of 5G, 1 in 10 UK adults hadn’t even heard of 5G before taking part in musicMagpie’s 5G survey.