On the finish of February, Apple made a little bit of historical past by releasing its first product to make use of its a mobile chip of its personal design. The Apple C1 is a 5G-capable modem that lacks a few of the most superior options (like mmWave assist) and must be, on paper, not fairly pretty much as good because the Qualcomm-made modem within the common iPhone 16 line. Apple’s focus seems to be on reliability and energy effectivity with the C1, with analysts anticipating Apple to compensate for efficiency with the next-generation C2 modem.
In our personal restricted testing, we discovered the iPhone 16e to be fairly a bit slower than the iPhone 16 in a number of areas round on metropolitan space on one community, however that solely tells a part of the story.
Ookla, which creates the favored Speedtest app, revealed outcomes from user-run checks throughout the first 12 days of availability in the USA and located that the iPhone 16 had increased general speeds, however that the iPhone 16e may maintain its personal and even come out forward relying on community, location, and community circumstances.
Now, with months of information collected from thousands and thousands of Speedtest customers everywhere in the world, Ookla has revealed way more complete outcomes.
The important thing takeaway is that this: Qualcomm’s modem does higher on networks which can be extra superior and higher-performance, whereas Apple’s C1 modem performs higher below very particular circumstances.
Qualcomm’s superior common obtain efficiency is very community dependent, and even in its greatest areas (Saudi Arabia and China) is barely about 20 % sooner than the C1 on common. Alternatively, Apple’s C1 pulls forward on checks under the tenth percentile (the ten% of checks with the slowest outcomes). These checks are seemingly on low-band 5G connections and don’t make use of excessive ranges of provider aggregation, the place Qualcomm shines.
Ookla
Add efficiency is kind of good on Apple’s modem within the iPhone 16e, in comparison with Qualcomm’s modem within the iPhone 16. Apple’s modem delivered increased median add speeds in 15 of the 21 markets examined by Ookla, and whereas the distinction was typically slight, it’s honest to say the C1 has higher general median add efficiency.
Ookla
After all, Ookla’s checks are simply analyzing the iPhone 16e (the one telephone with Apple’s C1 modem) towards the iPhone 16. The Qualcomm modem within the iPhone 16 is the Snapdragon X71M, a customized variant made for Apple however primarily based on designs which can be a few years previous now. The Snapdragon X80 and X85 are Qualcomm’s latest high-end modems and are present in most Android flagship telephones. After we say the C1 compares favorably towards Qualcomm in these checks, we’re not evaluating towards Qualcomm’s greatest.
Apple is predicted to make use of Qualcomm modems as soon as once more in many of the iPhone 17 line set to debut on September 9, however the ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air is rumored to make use of the C1 modem.
