iPhone 12 Lineup Enables Personal Hotspot Over Faster 5GHz Wi-Fi - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

iPhone 12 Lineup Enables Personal Hotspot Over Faster 5GHz Wi-Fi

As noted by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser, and confirmed by Aaron Zollo, the iPhone 12 lineup introduces support for Personal Hotspot tethering over faster 5GHz Wi-Fi, compared to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi on previous iPhones.

iphone mac hotspot
Personal Hotspot over 5GHz Wi-Fi is enabled by default on all iPhone 12 models. In the Settings > Personal Hotspot menu on these devices, there is a new "Maximize Compatibility" toggle that reverts Personal Hotspot to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi when enabled, with Apple noting that this may reduce internet performance on devices that are connected to the hotspot.

iphone 12 personal hotspot 5ghz
The combination of iPhone 12 models supporting higher-speed 5G networks and 5GHz Wi-Fi's higher maximum throughput paves the way for faster Personal Hotspot, but testing will have to be done to confirm the exact speed improvements. Keep in mind that while 5GHz Wi-Fi is faster than 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, it has shorter range, so Personal Hotspot speeds will vary based on the distance of a tethered device to the iPhone.

Personal Hotspot allows an iPhone's cellular data connection to be shared with other devices like a Mac over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Lightning.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
deep black iphone 18 pro

Apple Says iPhone 18 Pro Max Sold in U.S. Differs in One Way

Saturday September 12, 2026 3:27 pm PDT by
As noted by Nicolas Lellouche, who writes for the French tech website Numerama, Apple has updated its tech specs pages for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max to clarify which models are equipped with its new C2 cellular modem and where. Apple now says the iPhone 18 Pro has a C2 modem worldwide, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max uses the chip in every country except for the U.S. According...

Top Rated Comments

77 months ago
They should have gone over this in the keynote, it's actually a big deal
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thadoggfather Avatar
77 months ago
This phone rocks

it may legit be the biggest year over year upgrade in my eyes.

except maybe 3GS to 4.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
77 months ago

Here's the Downside to this, if you're a Verizon customer, as I am.

Even with their Top Tier UN-limited option, customers are limited to ONLY 30 GB per month of Hotspot Data, before it gets throttled-down to ONLY 600 Kbps !

So whether your Wi-Fi is 2.4 GHz OR 5 GHz, OR your cellular connection is Fast OR NOT, it doesn't really matter, Users are Forced to Self-Throttle their activities !

Otherwise, you can burn thru your allotment Fast !

Verizon should really increase the monthly HotSpot limit to 45 GB, 50% more !
I don't understand why people think that if their internet is faster, they will use more data? Movies and media consume the same amount of data whether it's LTE or 5G. There are only so many hours in a month. You can't be mass-downloading stuff to your phone. Email, web, etc., still the same amount of data, just faster. Like if the city put bigger water pipes in the street outside your house, are you going to use more water just because the pipes are bigger?

Please explain how faster internet is going to make you use more?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zorinlynx Avatar
77 months ago
I'm a bit irritated that Apple is holding this feature back on prior iPhones; they have the hardware to do personal hotspot on 5GHz bands.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
77 months ago
5GmmWave: it’s like Wifi but only works outside down the street!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
77 months ago
This is basically a cool surprise.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)