New iPad Pro drops 5G mmWave support as carrier rollout stumbles – 9to5Mac

As well as losing an ultra-wide camera, the new iPad Pro has also dropped support for 5G mmWave.

As seen on the iPad Pro specs page, the M4 iPad Pro supports 5G cellular on sub-6 GHz spectrum only, and LTE on 31 bands. The older cellular iPad Pro could do mmWave and supported one additional LTE band.

First introduced to Apple ecosystem with iPhone 12, millimeter wave enables super high wireless speeds and ultra low latency cellular communication. However, the tradeoff is that the signal can only be carried over shorter distances. It also often cannot penetrate glass or trees, and therefore is usually unavailable indoors.

As such, its adoption by carriers has been relatively low. mmWave deployment in the US is championed by Verizon, where customers can see 1-2 gigabit speeds in select areas. mmWave is also useful in highly-congested areas like sports stadiums. However, the vast majority of 5G coverage in the US is carried over sub-6 GHz.

mmWave availability outside the United States is even more bleak, so much so that iPhones sold outside the US do not include mmWave radios at all.

Apple has seemingly determined that the lack of carrier support means it is not worth including on iPads anymore, US or otherwise. Certainly, iPads are most often used in indoor environments where mmWave is rarely available.

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