5G Issues: iPhones And Samsung Phones Are Premium Crap

When I reviewed the Nokia G60 5G months ago, I slid an MTN SIM card into it and it immediately connected to the 5G network. No 5G issues. As long as I was within 5G coverage area, I got blazing mobile internet. I have used the AGM G2 Guardian, and it was a similar experience – plug-and-play.

But when I reviewed the iPhone SE 2022, nothing I did worked to get it to connect to the 5G network, until Apple released iOS 16.2 to enable 5G access in the phone. And now, I am reviewing the Samsung Galaxy S23, and nothing I have done has made 5G connectivity work either. As with the iPhone, I have to wait for a software update from Samsung before I can use 5G on a 5G smartphone that costs hundreds of thousands of naira.

I call bullshit. Apple and Samsung sell great hardware, but you never truly own their phones that you buy with a great amount of money. How does anyone spend hundreds of thousands of naira – sometimes over a million – to buy a smartphone that just won’t connect to 5G unless the manufacturer enables the feature via a software update? That is some expensive piece of crap.

Nokia, TECNO, And Redmi Don’t Have 5G Issues

Here in Nigeria, and all over the world, people buy a 5G TECNO, Nokia, or Redmi, put in a 5G SIM card, and any of those phones simply connect to the 5G network instantly. But it is phones from the so-called premium brands that give 5G issues and need software updates to fix them. Sorry o, but that is premium nonsense.

This was the experience of thousands of iPhone and Samsung users when MTN 5G was launched: they were left with their shiny premium phones unable to connect to 5G, while users of 5G Nokia, Vivo, Redmi, and Huawei smartphones connected without any hassles. What are we going to call this? Bullshit. Nonsense. Rubbish. What is worse is that it is still happening, especially with 5G Samsung phones.

For example, recently, someone complained that he got a software update on his Samsung S23 Ultra to enable 5G and things worked fine for a while – till the next software update which disabled 5G access again. It is absolute nonsense. It should not be happening. Nobody should be paying more for less. Here:

And it isn’t just limited to Nigeria. See…

But There Is More..

5G issues aside, speaking about paying more for less, it is also premium Samsung smartphones and iPhones that offer piss-poor fast charging. While the rest of the world has moved on to 80W, 120W, and even 150W fast charging, Apple and Samsung smartphones are still dancing around 20W and 25W. The fastest charging phone from those two rip-off brands is 45W. 45 crawly watts.

Fell free to stick with a brand that shafts you at every chance, selling you phones that are badly crippled for your hard-earned money. It is your money, 5G issues and crawly fast charging be damned. Some of us want phones that does what the specs say, and do them out of the box. That is real value.

Author: Mister Mobility

Master storyteller and founder of Mobility Nigeria, Mister Mobility, has used and reviewed hundreds of mobile phones since 2001.