Skip to main content

The rural urban divide widens with 5G rollouts in Italy

Posted: Aug 30, 2022

Italian operators first deployed their 5G commercial services in June 2019 and December 2020, while focusing their initial roll-outs mainly on densely populated urban areas, to maximize their return on investment. While this is a common global 5G approach, it comes at the potential cost of leaving rural users behind.

The Smartphone Experience Shift from 4G to 5G

Posted: Mar 15, 2022

On March 8, 2022 Apple announced a new 5G version of the iPhone SE — its cheapest iPhone — that will replace an older 4G-only SE model, first released in 2020. Notably, Apple prioritized including 5G and the modern A15 chipset over other potential enhancements such as adding Face ID or multiple rear cameras.

Benchmarking the Global 5G Experience — September 2021

Posted: Sep 09, 2021

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.

A great 5G experience benefits from a strong 4G foundation in Germany, Italy & the UK

Posted: Sep 01, 2021

Opensignal analyzed the impact of different amounts of 5G and 4G spectrum on the overall 5G mobile experience of our users. Perhaps surprisingly, our research shows that users in Germany, Italy and the UK saw significantly faster 5G average download speeds when they were also connected to additional amounts of 4G spectrum, through older 4G technology.

The European smartphone speed race: How Apple, OnePlus, Oppo, Samsung and Xiaomi compare

Posted: Jul 22, 2021

In this new analysis, we find that the overall speed experienced by 5G smartphones differs greatly by smartphone brand. However, across all brands we see that the overall speed for 5G devices is significantly higher compared with 4G smartphone models of the same brand. This increase highlights the importance of 5G technology to accelerate the mobile experience.

Broadband snapshots: UK

Posted: Aug 14, 2020

Key points

  • The real-world broadband experience is highly dependent on the location of users’ homes, and users care about the experience where they live, and not nationally. Users’ speeds are higher on almost every ISP in urban areas.

Quantifying the global 5G experience across ten operators

Posted: May 20, 2020

Understanding the extent to which 5G improves the mobile experience is critical both for consumers considering upgrading to 5G and also for the mobile industry that’s planning how quickly to invest in 5G. We’ve looked at how the 5G experience compares in four leading countries — Australia, South Korea, the U.S. and the U.K. — across ten 5G operators that all launched 5G well over six months ago.