Google won’t give old Pixels the best 5G, even though it admits it could

Google says it doesn’t plan to replace the software program for the Pixel 4a 5G, 5, or 5a to help C-band 5G within the US, regardless of additionally saying that the telephones have the required {hardware} and that the performance will work in different international locations. Google hasn’t defined this determination, which it introduced in a submit on the Pixel help boards (h/t to Android Police for recognizing that submit). Google has up to date its newest Pixels within the US, the 6 and 6 Professional, with C-band by way of a software program replace, however not these older telephones.

The submit says that the sooner Pixel fashions “have C-band succesful {hardware} and are enabled for operation in sure international locations” however that the corporate does “not have any plans to help C-band operation within the US” for these earlier Pixel fashions.

This information is, frankly, a bummer. When my colleague Chris Welch examined Verizon’s C-band community, it was notably quicker than 4G LTE and a lot of the different 5G providers the corporate supplied. Whereas C-band isn’t as quick as mmWave, it’s obtained extra vary, making it extra viable for extra prospects. Verizon and (to a lesser extent) AT&T are spending billions to make C-band a giant a part of their 5G networks — and these comparatively latest telephones, seemingly arbitrarily, can’t use it within the US. It’s particularly upsetting for the Pixel 5, a flagship cellphone that’s just one technology previous and which already has the FCC’s approval to make use of C-band.

(In case you’re questioning about T-Cellular, its present 5G community doesn’t make the most of C-band, although it does have plans to introduce some late subsequent yr. The corporate beloved pointing this out in the course of the 5G debacle with the FAA, carriers, and airways.)

Google didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail from The Verge asking why it could help C-band in some international locations however not others. In its submit, the corporate factors out that the telephones will nonetheless have the ability to use no matter Sub-6 and mmWave 5G capabilities that they had at launch.

As at all times, this serves as a reminder to not purchase one thing primarily based on options it could or could get in a future software program replace. In our Pixel 5a assessment from 2021, we point out that the cellphone’s lack of C-band could possibly be a downside sooner or later however that Google may add help for it if it needed. Sadly, it looks like that future is true across the nook for purchasers with telephones that Google is supporting. However the firm doesn’t appear keen on together with US prospects that don’t have the newest and best Pixels.