Worth buying an iPhone 12 with no mmWave 5G?

A recent article by Dr Stanley Shanapinda published on The Conversation warned against purchasing iPhone 12 phones because they don't include mmWave 5G outside the US has triggered some controversy.

I respectfully disagree with what he's saying for a number of reasons:

• mmWave spectrum hasn't been auctioned in Australia yet and won't be available probably until 2022.
• 4G LTE in Australia is already very fast
• Future 5G modems are likely to be more power efficient
• mmWave is a very high frequency, around 26GHz, and is suitable for very small - line of sight - areas.

Modern phones often cover different frequency bands for different countries. I understand that iPhone 12s include the mmWave 5G bands in the US because there are some places there where 5G is only available on those bands.

Stanley and I were guests on ABC Sydney Radio program "Focus" hosted by the fabulous Cassie McCullagh. You can hear the interview here.