Is it necessary to upgrade from 4G to 5G mobile phone now?

As 5G network coverage continues to expand rapidly, the discussion about whether to upgrade from 4G phones to 5G phones has become heated again during the peak period of mobile phone replacement during New Year's Day and Spring Festival. So is now the right time to change to a 5G phone? We will help you analyze it based on several objective conditions such as network, package and phone performance.

1. 5G network coverage is getting stronger

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the 5G network construction speed of the three major operators was not affected. Instead, they completed the annual construction task ahead of schedule and exceeded the target. Public data on the Internet shows that the three major operators have built and opened nearly 800,000 5G base stations in total, achieving network coverage in prefecture-level cities and some key county-level areas across the country.

Although the three major operators have not yet announced specific 5G network construction plans for 2021, various official reports from the three major operators have provided general goals. In addition, experts from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology believe that the three major operators' 5G base station construction target in 2021 will reach 1 million, and by then, 5G network coverage will be basically achieved in all county-level cities and key towns.

As long as there is 5G network coverage, only through 5G mobile phones can you experience the super high Internet experience of 5G technology. In fact, even if the continuous coverage of the 5G network is still lacking, this does not affect the Internet function of 5G mobile phones, after all, 5G mobile phones can also use 4G networks. So from this perspective, as long as your budget is sufficient, it is completely appropriate to change to a 5G mobile phone now.

2. 5G exclusive packages are getting cheaper

In early November 2019, the three major operators officially launched 5G commercial services and simultaneously launched 5G packages. Although we are not sure whether the three major operators have reached a consensus, the final result is that the 5G packages of the three operators are highly similar. The cheapest or entry-level 5G packages are all around 120 yuan, and the specific contents such as traffic and voice are also roughly the same.

Is this package expensive? It is equivalent to the consumption capacity of 50-60 yuan/month for all network users. The 5G entry package is indeed not affordable for ordinary people. The number of high-end users with a consumption capacity of more than 120 yuan/month is limited, and naturally cannot support the operator's 5G construction and maintenance costs. Discount sales have become an inevitable operation for operators.

Since the beginning of this year, operators have launched a 30% discount on 5G packages. However, even so, the coverage of the population is very limited. Therefore, there is room for further price cuts. In addition to discounts, operators have also launched a 5G package with 30GB of traffic for 30 yuan, and for some government and enterprise customers, they have also launched more favorable 5G packages.

In fact, the unit price of 5G traffic is more favorable than that of 4G traffic. If you are a big traffic consumer and your average monthly communication consumption expenditure can reach 80 yuan, then it is more cost-effective to change your mobile phone package to a 5G package, even if your mobile phone is not a 5G mobile phone. After all, 4G mobile phones can also use 5G packages. Of course, it is even more necessary to change to a 5G mobile phone at this time.

3. 5G mobile phones are becoming more and more cost-effective

The price of 5G mobile phones has dropped from the extremely high price of 12,000 yuan in 2018 to around 1,000 yuan at the end of 2020. On the one hand, the price of mobile phones has dropped significantly, and on the other hand, the performance of mobile phones has continued to improve. As for the performance of 5G mobile phones, you can get a glimpse of this from the initial 5G "warm mobile phone". Poor heat dissipation of mobile phones certainly means low performance.

With the price reduction and performance improvement, the cost-effectiveness of 5G mobile phones will naturally improve. The prices of 5G mobile phones on the market are becoming more and more competitive. There are already many types of 5G mobile phones in the price range of less than 2,000 yuan. In this price range, the available 4G and 5G mobile phones are generally not much different, even if they are not on par.

If the budget of readers to replace their mobile phones exceeds 3,000 yuan, then there are very few 4G mobile phones on the market that cost more than 3,000 yuan. On the contrary, 5G mobile phones in this field are definitely worth choosing. Objectively speaking, in the field of high-end mobile phones, 5G mobile phones have completely taken the upper hand. Therefore, the higher the budget, the more confident you should be in choosing a 5G mobile phone.

Therefore, if you have decided to replace your 4G phone and are still hesitating whether to choose a 5G phone, we recommend that you directly replace it with a 5G phone. It is okay even if you use the replaced 5G phone as a 4G phone, after all, the possibility of 4G phones being eliminated in the next two years or one year is much higher than that of 5G phones. Therefore, if you have decided to change your phone, then you should change to a 5G phone.

Although many people will raise the realistic problem of the lack of 5G-specific applications, this does not affect the specific functions of 5G mobile phones. After all, 5G mobile phones have both 4G and 5G functions, while 4G mobile phones are not compatible with 5G. Therefore, considering the above aspects comprehensively, of course, if you spend the same price, you should choose a 5G mobile phone with more advanced technology and better comprehensive utility.