4G

With the autumn smartphone upgrade cycle about to start, with the recent launch of new Samsung foldable models such as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip3 and the new iPhone, as well as models from other brands, many mobile users will be considering purchasing their first 5G phone. Opensignal has again looked at the 5G experience to see how it compares globally and how 5G holds up against the older 4G mobile experience which will be used by most upgraders with 4G-only phones.

Opensignal analyzed the mobile experience of our Egyptian smartphone users who have never accessed mobile data on a 4G network to understand why they have not used 4G. In this analysis, we call this group of users “3G-only” users.

Across Europe and the Middle East we see a wide range of 5G experience because of different deployment strategies and types of spectrum available for 5G services. In every country our users saw a much better mobile experience using 5G than was possible previously with 4G or 3G network technologies.

In Opensignal’s latest analysis of real-world 5G measurements across all frequency bands, we see that the leading cities have a significantly better 5G experience than national scores. Users in the city of Jeonju have both the fastest average 5G Download Speed of any city in South Korea as well as the fastest experience in any city we analyzed. Jeonju’s 5G Download Speed of 415.6 Mbps is 15% faster than South Korea’s national result.

In our latest analysis of the mobile experience of Rakuten users, we see big increases in the reach of Rakuten’s network as it expands across Japan and a resulting impact on users’ mobile experience. Rakuten stated in its November 2020 earnings report that it aims to cover 96% of Japan’s population with its cell sites and 4G radio network by the summer of 2021.