Jessica Dolcourt, CNET:

One day, 5G will become the new standard for data speeds, but for now, growth is slow and the coverage sporadic and limited. While Samsung says it already sold 2 million 5G phones, roadblocks litter the way between early adoption and mass use.

5G isn’t even close to ready for prime time. The current rollouts require you to be physically near (within feet) of a transceiver to get the top speeds. Move away from the transceiver and your speed drops significantly. And, obviously, if you live in the suburbs or beyond, it’ll be years before those transceivers make it out to your neck of the woods.

As Apple has shown time and again, they are patient, waiting until they can deliver a superior experience before they release a new product. 5G is just not there yet.

Apple has time. And they’ve got plenty of work to do, both in absorbing Intel’s modem business (which they acquired in July) and in incorporating that technology into a carrier-agnostic 5G modem that won’t overheat in the hot summer sun.