iPhone 17 Pro Max vs iQOO 13

5G is the cellular generation that succeeded 4G LTE. Three frequency tiers:

• Low-band (600–900 MHz) — long range, modest speeds (~100 Mbps).
• Mid-band (1–6 GHz) — the sweet spot, 200–900 Mbps in real-world tests.
• mmWave (24–40 GHz) — gigabit speeds but tiny coverage area; uncommon outside dense urban deployments.

Real-world experience

Mid-band 5G is where most users see the upgrade — 3–10× faster than 4G in good conditions, with ~30 ms latency vs 4G's ~50 ms.

What "5G" on a phone means

A phone marked "5G" supports sub-6 GHz at minimum. mmWave is a separate spec, often called "5G UW" or "5G+" depending on carrier. If you're not in a dense city, mmWave compatibility is a marketing checkbox you won't use.