new 5G iPhone - uploading pics takes forever

Hello Ck9, we're here to help you with transferring photos from your iPhone to your Mac laptop.

Get transfer, backup, and restore instructions for your specific device in Device Support. Look under Device Instructions, then Backup & restore.

1. With the device powered on, insert the Lightning end of the Lightning-to-USB cable into the port at the base of the device.
2.  Insert the USB end of the Lightning-to-USB cable into an open USB port on the computer.
3. On the computer, open Photos.
4. On the iPhone, select Trust.
5. Select the desired device in the side bar.
6. Select the desired photos or videos to import, then select Import Selected or Import All New Photos.
7. To add pictures and videos to an album, select the desired pictures or videos then select the Import to drop-down menu.
8. 8. Select the desired album or select New Album and follow the prompts. When finished select Import Selected or Import All New Photos. Photos will be imported to the designated album. 
   
   Note: Albums will appear in the side bar. Learn more from the Apple support articles Import photos and videos from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows PC and Back up your iPhone.

There are different transfer, backup, and restore options.

The speeds you get connecting to a cell network wirelessly have nothing to do with the speed you get transferring to a physical device like a computer because they are different processes.  Usually you download photos to a computer via a cable or Bluetooth.  How are you transferring photos, and how many photos do you have?  4 days sounds like an extremely long time.

Takes me about 5 seconds to transfer a photo from my 5G iPhone to my laptop via Airdrop. Same if I receive a photo via messaging. And speaking of cellular 5G, it's unreliable in our area so I just leave my phone on LTE.

Airdrop uses Bluetooth to connect and device-to-device Wifi to transfer.  Nothing to do with the phone being 5G or on a 5G cell network.

I know that but the OP didn't specify how he is uploading his pics to his laptop. As far as we know, he's trying to use iCloud. I only mentioned 5G because he mentioned 5G.

using wifi, not a cable. using a cable from phone to laptop does not improve speed.

Either way, direct cable or WiFi, the cellular network has nothing to do with it. Could be an issue with the phone or the laptop. Do you have this issue with other devices? How exactly are you uploading over WiFi? What program?

using the photo program that came with the phone.

last phone had no issues, uploaded within minutes.

How exactly are you transferring photos?  I’m not aware that there are other options in the native photo app other than uploading to iCloud or using airdrop to transfer photos to another device without using a cable.  In any case, this sounds like an Apple issue if the speed changed badly compared to a previous iPhone.

Are you trying to transfer your photos from your iPhone to the desktop of the laptop or to Photos app on the laptop? Are you using a Mac laptop?

Transferring photos from my iPhone 12 works just as well regardless of the method used.