Some time ago, Xiang Ligang, the founder of Feixiang.com, posted an interesting Weibo post. A simple summary is: When Xiang Ligang was riding the subway, he discovered that the guy next to him was using an iPhone, and the iPhone interface actually showed a 5G network. In comparison, his Mate40 only had 4G, which made him very surprised. After many comparisons and asking relevant operator leaders, he found that Beijing Subway Line 10 has not yet completed the 5G signal deployment, and questioned where the iPhone's 5G signal came from.

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Is iPhone’s 5G fake 5G? As a well-known person in the field of domestic communications, Xiang Ligang’s Weibo quickly attracted attention from all parties, and the debate about the authenticity of iPhone 5G also began. There are many relevant industry insiders in the comments on Weibo, analyzing the possibility of "fake" 5G from the perspective of communication protocols. However, judging from the atmosphere in the comment area, it is obviously not a place for friendly discussions.

Of course, everyone knows that the iPhone signal is poor, but compared with 5G fraud, the latter is obviously more unacceptable. After all, when the signal shows 5G, but various web pages cannot be opened on the mobile phone, it always makes people wonder if there is something wrong with my mobile phone again?

So, what is the fake 5G iPhone that Xiang Ligang questioned? After searching a lot of information, I asked Xiao Lei to tell everyone.

Real 5G, fake 5G?

In terms of the popularization speed of 5G, China should be the first in the world. Nowadays, most cities have completed the deployment of 5G networks in major urban areas, and most people are probably familiar with 5G signals. In first-tier cities like Guangzhou, except for places with poor signals such as underground, elevators, and subways, it is basically difficult to see mobile phone signals drop to the 4G standard.

Perhaps I have become accustomed to the existence of 5G signals, so I rarely pay attention to whether the signal on the mobile phone shows 5G or 4G. In my opinion, there are only two situations for the iPhone, one is that it can access the Internet, and the other is that it cannot access the Internet.

Friends who have used iPhone as their main phone should understand my feelings. As the bottom of the mobile phone signal contempt chain, I am afraid it will be difficult to find a second mainstream mobile phone manufacturer that has been criticized by users for signal problems. In addition, during the years when Apple and Qualcomm were at odds, several generations of iPhones using Intel basebands can be said to have further "consolidated" domestic users' perception of poor iPhone signals.


Source: Apple

Seeing signal problems being complained by users, Apple was forced to settle with Qualcomm and sign a contract to purchase a large number of Qualcomm basebands for the iPhone 13 series. Judging from the test results of Lei Technology in the past few years, the signal performance of the iPhone12 series, as the first generation of 5G iPhones, is indeed far inferior to that of the iPhone13 series and iPhone14 series, with significant improvements in power consumption and signal strength.

However, the issue of iPhone’s fake 5G has actually been discussed once as early as the iPhone 12 era. The 5G standard at that time was not as clear as it is now, and the country was still in the initial stage of switching from 4G to 5G, and the NSA standard was the mainstream at the time.

Compared with the current mainstream SA standard, the NSA standard is upgraded and deployed based on the 4G network. Although the theoretical bandwidth is improved compared to 4G, the actual experience is not much different from 4G. Therefore, many users were complaining at that time. Although they had upgraded their 5G package and the mobile phone also showed 5G, why could they still freeze when watching a video?

At that time, a vigorous 5G "witch hunt" began on the Chinese Internet. However, without the operator taking the initiative to explain, the whole thing ended hastily. After all, 5G is not 5G. Users actually only care about whether their videos can be dragged normally and whether web pages can be refreshed normally. As long as the network is not stuck, not many people will go out of their way to see whether their network is 5G or 4G.

However, there is no precedent for the iPhone to display an error signal. In the early days of 4G to 5G, some people discovered that the iPhone would display 5G communication in places where there was no 5G network. However, in addition to the iPhone, Samsung, LG, Motorola and other mobile phones also had the same problem.

To be precise, the culprit that caused many mobile phones to display 5G on the 4G network was not the mobile phone manufacturers, but the American communications operator AT&T. At that time, it was in the deployment stage of the 5G network. In order to attract users, AT&T upgraded its 4G base stations so that mobile phones using AT&T mobile phone cards would display "5G".


Source: Wikipedia

TAGP H14This operation has indeed made American AT&T users gain experience, but some old users are emotionally stable, because this is not the first time AT&T has done this, because Ya has a criminal record. When 3G was switching to 4G, AT&T upgraded its base stations to make mobile phones mistakenly think they were within the coverage of the 4G network. After the incident was exposed, it was criticized by users at the time before it restrained itself.

So is it possible that the iPhone’s fake 5G will encounter the same situation?

“5G” on mobile phones

Generally speaking, we all think that when 5G appears on mobile phones, The mobile phone uses the 5G network, but this is not the case. According to the 5G status display settings (Config) of the four types of user equipment (UE) given by the GSMA, the mobile phone can display the 5G symbol in some states, even if it is actually connected to a 4G network.

The four options are A, B, C, and D. Among them, option A is the most rigorous and requires the mobile phone to display 5G when it is connected to the 5G network of NSA or SA and receives an NR signal, while option D is the most relaxed. It only requires the base station to feedback that it "supports" 5G. Even if the 5G network is not detected, the mobile phone can display the 5G signal.


Source: GSMA Industry Alliance

TAGPH 31Some people in the industry said that the base station does not even need to actually support 5G. It only needs to rewrite the feedback information from the base station to the personal device, so that the mobile phone that implements the Config.D solution can display the 5G signal. Therefore, even within the coverage area of ​​the same base station, two 5G mobile phones may have completely different signal signatures.

On Weibo, Xiang Ligang said that he had asked relevant leaders of China Unicom, and they all replied that 5G was not deployed on Line 10, but he also mentioned that 5G deployment was in progress. In a test by a Zhihu user, some stations on Line 10 actually already have China Unicom 5G signals. Considering the 5G base stations at intersection sites and some underground commercial plazas, the possibility of connecting to different base stations during the subway is not small.

So is the Config.D solution only used by iPhone? Judging from the information collected from social platforms such as Weibo, Zhihu and Douyin, this is not the case. Some of the current mainstream mobile phone brands on sale such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung, and Apple have used the Config.D solution. When connected to the LTE data network, some models of Huawei mobile phones will also display 5G instead of 4G.


Source: Zhihu user Nestu Miqiu

TAGP H8So, many times we will find that even though the mobile phone displays a 5G signal, the actual speed is very slow. The real reason behind this may be that you are connected to an anchor station. As an auxiliary to the NSA 5G base station, the anchor station allows the 5G base station to operate in the 4G core network. Limited by the bandwidth and congestion of the base station, your network speed may still be 4G level or even semi-disconnected, but the 5G signal will still be displayed.

It can be said that the causes of fake 5G are very complicated. Various reasons such as mobile phone manufacturers, base station deployment, operators, etc. may cause mobile phones to display the 5G logo when there is no 5G signal. At least from the perspective of the GSMA, it is compliant.

In my opinion, instead of paying attention to whether the iPhone is true or false 5G, it is better to pay attention to when the iPhone can get its signal better. The state of 5G disconnection is not an exception.