Update 1 February 2021: In the iOS 14.5 beta adds Apple adds the still missing function to be able to use 5G in combination with dual sim. Until now it is not possible to use 5G if you have two SIM cards (a physical SIM card and an eSIM) installed. In iOS 14.5, Apple resolves this, so that you can use the 5G connection on both lines. The condition is that the provider and the subscription must be suitable for 5G.
Below you can read our previous article and updates from October 2020.
Update October 20: As we wrote earlier, it seems that Apple is adding support for 5G with dualsim with a software update. MacRumors has heard from sources from the American provider Verizon that Apple will release an iOS update this fall so that you can still use 5G if two SIM cards are active at the same time. For the time being, the dualsim only works with 4G connections.
Original article October 19
The iPhone 12 series are the first iPhones to support 5G. The Dutch providers also support 5G on the 700MHz frequency. Like previous models, the iPhone 12 also supports the iPhone’s dual sim function. But if you want to combine 5G and dual sim, you may be disappointed. A page of the Apple Sales FAQ would show that when using dual sim, both SIM cards fall back to 4G speeds.
‘No 5G when using dualsim on iPhone’
That discovery was made by Reddit user ccthrow1, who would have access to Apple’s sales page. This website is for retailers only, where they can log in with a special Apple ID. On that page there is an FAQ about 5G, asking whether 5G works with dualsim. The answer to that is as follows:
When using two lines in Dual SIM mode, 5G data isn’t supported on either line and will fall back to 4G LTE. If customers are using eSIM only and are on a 5G-supported carrier and service plan, they’ll have 5G access.
So if you use two numbers on the iPhone 12 (a private and business number) and they are both active at the same time (so that you can be reached on both numbers on the same device), you cannot use 5G. 5G has been disabled for both numbers and is therefore falling back to 4G. This happens even if both providers support 5G on the number.
The FAQ also shows that 5G does work if you only use an eSIM, as long as you don’t have a physical SIM card active at the same time. This also applies the other way around: if you only use a physical SIM card (and therefore no eSIM), you can also simply use 5G (with a suitable provider and subscription).
At this point, we are still flagging this post as a rumor as it is not yet available on a public page of the Apple website. We have checked with a provider whether this is indeed the case.
May be fixed with software update
According to the Reddit user, this is a temporary problem. Apple would release a software update at the end of this year that will add support for 5G to dual sim. It wouldn’t be the first time that Apple later expanded the dualsim function. Originally iMessage and FaceTime were only available for one of the two lines, but iOS 13 added support for both lines.
- 2021 – Feb 01, 8:11 PM: Article updated after adding 5G for dualsim in upcoming software update.
- 2020 – Oct 20, 08:59: Article updated with new conjectures for a later software update adding the support for 5G at dualsim.
