Carrier 5G Situation in the UK (O2)?

[Broric]

Before the reveal today there were a few doubts over the 5G support in the UK. I've not seen any clarification on this yet. Will the new iPhone be compatible with the UK's 5G networks (specifically on O2)?

 

[JPack]

Yes, the iPhone 12 supports 5G frequencies that are deployed in most parts of the world.

Some people are concerned about low-band and mmWave support, but in reality, those frequencies are not being deployed in any meaningful way by carriers in most countries. The meat of 5G is in the Sub-6 frequencies and particularly mid-band (1GHz - 6GHz).

 

[Broric]

I believe O2 runs over the 3500MHz bands in the UK.

 

[magicMac]

I believe O2 runs over the 3500MHz bands in the UK.

Yes all UK carriers are using n78 (3500MHz) for 5G at the moment and o2 maybe will use n40/band40 (2300MHz) in future, but right now they are deploying massive-MIMO LTE on that band only.

There is an additional auction for long range 5G on 700MHz in the UK but this isn't being used yet. According to https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/cellular/ this band is supported also (n12 and n28) so I can't see why any short to medium term flavour of 5G in the UK wouldn't work, that report from a few days ago was duff.

The new iPhones don't support Millimetre wave (above 6-GHz) 5G ... although this a future thing in the UK, no auction even set for that yet, probably be at iPhone 15 by the time that gets deployed outside London, I'm not even convinced this is aimed for consumers, more like IoT, traffic cameras, street lights and all that gumf etc..*

* correction the US version of the iPhone 12's support mmWave n260/n261