5G and Wi-Fi 6E Explained: What Connectivity Actually Matters When Buying in 2024

Connectivity specs are some of the most misunderstood numbers on any spec sheet, partly because carriers and manufacturers have spent years using terms like "5G" and "Wi-Fi 6E" as pure marketing shorthand without explaining what they actually change in daily use. This guide breaks down what these standards mean in practice across the phones and tablets in our catalog, and, more usefully, when they genuinely matter versus when they are a checkbox you can safely ignore.

5G is not one thing — it's three

The biggest source of confusion is that "5G" covers three genuinely different technologies bundled under one marketing term. Low-band 5G is the most common in practice: it covers wide areas but delivers speeds not dramatically faster than good 4G LTE, so upgrading to a 5G phone alone rarely feels transformative if your carrier mostly uses low-band coverage in your area. Mid-band 5G (sometimes called "5G UW" or "5G+") offers a real, noticeable speed jump — often 200-400 Mbps in good conditions — and is now the most common flavor in cities and suburbs across major US, European, and Asian carriers. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G is the fastest by far, capable of gigabit speeds, but has such short range and poor building penetration that it is mostly limited to stadiums, airports, and dense downtown blocks, making it more of a marketing bullet point than a daily-use feature for most buyers.

Which of our phones handle 5G best

The iPhone 15, Galaxy S24, and Pixel 8 all support the full range of 5G bands relevant to major carriers, so band support itself is not a meaningful differentiator between them in 2024 — the practical difference comes down to modem efficiency and how gracefully each phone steps down to 4G when 5G coverage is weak. The Galaxy S24's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 modem has tested marginally more power-efficient in independent benchmarks than the Pixel 8's Tensor G3 modem, meaning slightly less battery drain when 5G signal is marginal and the phone is working harder to maintain a connection, a real-world factor that rarely appears on a spec sheet but shows up in daily battery life.

Wi-Fi 6E: the upgrade that actually matters more than most buyers realize

While 5G gets more marketing attention, Wi-Fi 6E is arguably the more consistently useful upgrade for anyone who spends most of their screen time on home or office Wi-Fi rather than cellular data. Wi-Fi 6E adds an entirely new 6GHz frequency band alongside the older 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and because almost no older devices use 6GHz yet, it is dramatically less congested — meaning faster, more consistent speeds even in apartment buildings or offices packed with competing Wi-Fi networks. The Galaxy S24 supports Wi-Fi 6E out of the box, giving it a genuine edge for anyone who has already upgraded their home router to a Wi-Fi 6E-capable model, a combination that is becoming more common as routers from the last two years increasingly ship with 6E support standard.

Samsung Galaxy S24 network settings

Tablets and cellular connectivity: usually optional, sometimes essential

Most tablet buyers default to Wi-Fi-only models, and for good reason — the Xiaomi Pad 6 ships Wi-Fi-only with no cellular option at all, reflecting how the majority of tablet owners primarily use their tablet at home or paired with a phone's mobile hotspot when traveling. The iPad and Galaxy Tab S9 both offer optional 5G cellular variants at a price premium, worth considering specifically if you travel frequently and want the tablet to stay connected independently of your phone, such as for extended trips where relying on hotspot tethering would drain your phone's battery faster than acceptable. For the average buyer who mostly uses a tablet at home, on a known Wi-Fi network, the cellular upgrade rarely earns back its added cost.

Bluetooth and short-range connectivity

Bluetooth versions matter less than most buyers assume, since all recent flagship phones and tablets in our catalog support Bluetooth 5.2 or newer, more than sufficient for wireless earbuds, smartwatches, and car systems without any noticeable difference in daily reliability between models. Where it does matter is multi-device pairing: the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy Watch6 pair through Samsung's own optimized Bluetooth stack, delivering a slightly faster and more stable connection between same-brand devices than mixing brands typically achieves, a small but real reason to consider staying within one ecosystem if seamless device switching matters to you.

eSIM and international travel

One connectivity feature that matters more than 5G bands for frequent travelers is eSIM support, and all three phones in our catalog — plus the cellular tablet variants — support it. An eSIM lets you download a local carrier's data plan digitally in minutes upon arrival in another country, instead of hunting for a physical SIM card kiosk at an airport or paying steep roaming fees on your home plan. The iPhone 15 in US models has gone a step further and dropped the physical SIM tray entirely, relying on eSIM exclusively, which is a genuine convenience once you're used to it but worth knowing about in advance if you were planning to swap a physical SIM card between devices. Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8 models sold outside the US retain a physical SIM slot alongside eSIM support, giving buyers in those markets more flexibility either way.

So what should you actually prioritize?

For most buyers, mid-band 5G support (which every phone in our catalog has) and a strong Wi-Fi connection at home matter far more day to day than any single connectivity spec on a box. If you have already upgraded to a Wi-Fi 6E router, the Galaxy S24 is the one device in our current lineup positioned to take full advantage of it. If you travel frequently and need a tablet that stays online independently, the cellular variants of the iPad or Galaxy Tab S9 are worth the premium. For everyone else, connectivity specs are one of the least important factors to weigh — put your attention and budget toward camera quality, display, and battery life instead, since those are the specs you will actually notice every single day.