A novel compact planar dual‐band multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna with four radiating elements for 5G mobile communication is proposed. Each radiating element has a planar folded monopole, which is surrounded by L‐shaped meta‐rim extended ground stubs. The compact folded arms act as the main radiating elements, while combined with the L‐shaped meta‐rim stubs, the proposed antenna forms multiple resonances so as to achieve dual‐band coverage. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna has two wide bands of −6 dB return loss, consisting of 1.6 to 3.6 and 4.1 to 6.1 GHz, respectively. Without any additional isolation structure between the elements, the isolation for the proposed 2 × 2 MIMO antenna in both desired bands can be achieved better than 12 dB. The measured results show that the proposed MIMO antenna with good performance, that is, stable radiation patterns, high efficiencies, low specific absorption ratio (SAR) to human tissues, is suitable for WLAN/LTE, 4G and future 5G mobile phone applications.