iPhone XS 4G speeds at least 26 percent faster than predecessors, study shows

Posted:
in iPhone
Apple's 2018 iPhone models -- particularly the XS line -- offered the first significant boost to 4G data speeds in several years, according to research firm OpenSignal.

iPhone XS and XS Max


The XS and XS Max are nearly 26 percent faster than all iPhones released between 2015 and 2017, even the iPhone X, OpenSignal found. To gauge performance, the company tested iPhones across the U.S. on multiple carriers between Oct. 26 and Jan. 24.

The Max in particular put Apple's best foot forward with speeds up to 21.7 megabits per second. The standard XS ranked second at 20.5mbps, but the XR was actually slower than the X at 17.6mbps versus 18.5, respectively. Because it uses 2x2 MIMO instead of 4x4, the XR is incapable of the same speeds as the XS.

Bandwidth is said to have stayed largely stagnant between the iPhone 6s and X. This may have diminished people's interest in upgrading to new iPhones, OpenSignal speculates.

Although the first 5G phones and networks are rolling out, Apple isn't expected to adopt the technology until 2020. What coverage exists is limited, and Apple's preferred modem maker, Intel, is unlikely to have a 5G chip ready until next year.

Apple has often been criticized for being slow to adopt new cellular standards. The original 2007 iPhone was 2G at a time 3G was making waves, and the company didn't adopt 4G until 2012's iPhone 5.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    No surprise given that XMM7480 had generally terrible receiver sensitivity
  • Reply 2 of 24
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,240member
    Just pulled this off my XR. Must be my lucky day. 


    edited February 2019 racerhomie3
  • Reply 3 of 24
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Bandwidth is said to have stayed largely stagnant between the iPhone 6s and X. This may have diminished people's interest in upgrading to new iPhones, OpenSignal speculates.
    I’m laughing my ass off at this ridiculous sentence. Really? The typical iPhone customer considers arcane tech specs like this? This is the greatest example of nerd conceit and disconnect from reality I have ever read. This is why whatever is pontificated on a tech blog like AI must be taken with a huge shaker of salt. In fact there is no salt mine big enough to supply enough salt to take articles on a tech blog seriously. 
    bonobobracerhomie3tjwolfbeowulfschmidtneilmleavingthebiggdws-2
  • Reply 4 of 24
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,904member
    Speed on Phone is as good as the bandwidth and coverage of Carrier's network
    coolfactorchia
  • Reply 5 of 24
    How fast is it compared to an iPhone X with an unthrottled Qualcomm modem?
    edited February 2019
  • Reply 6 of 24
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    Did they make an unthrottled X phones with Qualcomm modem?
  • Reply 7 of 24
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,301member
    Is it faster? I don't know. What I do know is my iPhone XS doesn't work at times in the same area's my iPhone 6 did. It will show 3 bars and yet I can't get anything. One app to another, rebooting the phone, doesn't fix it. Show no Internet connection though I see 3 bars. I don't know what's going on.
    GeorgeBMacdws-2
  • Reply 8 of 24
    hexclock said:
    Just pulled this off my XR. Just be my lucky day. 

    Must be my lucky day, too. Or AppleInsider needs to do some fact-checking.

    XR. Bell network in Canada. 

    - 183 Mbps down
    - 38 Mbps up

    That seems way faster than this article claims.


    racerhomie3
  • Reply 9 of 24
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
     Ok , how did the author get that the XS is twice as fast as the X?   I followed the link to their website and only saw reports comparing coverage between different Cell Networks not data on a Per Device Level?    If so how does the X and XS compare to Pixel phones and Samsung Galaxy?
  • Reply 10 of 24
    I don’t get it either.  I was getting 50Mbps down on my iPhone 6 years ago. What are these numbers?
    coolfactor
  • Reply 11 of 24
    Bandwidth is said to have stayed largely stagnant between the iPhone 6s and X. This may have diminished people's interest in upgrading to new iPhones, OpenSignal speculates.

    Yah, this is nonsense. It's a disservice for AppleInsider to be repeating stuff like this. The bottleneck is in the carrier networks, not the devices. Consumers don't use this as a metric for deciding.
    bonobobchiadws-2
  • Reply 12 of 24
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,240member
    Bandwidth is said to have stayed largely stagnant between the iPhone 6s and X. This may have diminished people's interest in upgrading to new iPhones, OpenSignal speculates.

    Yah, this is nonsense. It's a disservice for AppleInsider to be repeating stuff like this. The bottleneck is in the carrier networks, not the devices. Consumers don't use this as a metric for deciding.
    If they meant to write Megabytes per second, it makes more sense. 
    dws-2
  • Reply 13 of 24
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    hexclock said:
    Just pulled this off my XR. Just be my lucky day. 

    Must be my lucky day, too. Or AppleInsider needs to do some fact-checking.

    XR. Bell network in Canada. 

    - 183 Mbps down
    - 38 Mbps up

    That seems way faster than this article claims.


    Do you have WIFI turned on because those are   amazing results?

    Their Facebook page has a Feb 7 posting saying Canadian Cities average 36 MBps with 1 carrier hitting 60.   Pretty good anyway.
  • Reply 14 of 24
    thttht Posts: 5,394member
    k2kw said:
    hexclock said:
    Just pulled this off my XR. Just be my lucky day. 

    Must be my lucky day, too. Or AppleInsider needs to do some fact-checking.

    XR. Bell network in Canada. 

    - 183 Mbps down
    - 38 Mbps up

    That seems way faster than this article claims.

    ...
    Do you have WIFI turned on because those are   amazing results?

    Their Facebook page has a Feb 7 posting saying Canadian Cities average 36 MBps with 1 carrier hitting 60.   Pretty good anyway.
    Since they say “4G”, I assume they are talking about HSPA or HSPA+ and not LTE.

    It’s going to be the same with 5G where 5G is essentially 5G over LTE bands, effectively the same as LTE, while the “real” mm wave 5G won’t really be in the mass market until 2020 if not 2021.
  • Reply 15 of 24
    XR here in OKC. Type WiFi speed test in google. My results on LTE:


    https://postimg.cc/z31tQRNp
  • Reply 16 of 24
    In south East Asia my network Telenor got 40.4 down &  23.1 up. (iPhone SE global)
    https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/2648764625
    edited February 2019
  • Reply 17 of 24
    tjwolftjwolf Posts: 424member
    k2kw said:
     Ok , how did the author get that the XS is twice as fast as the X?   I followed the link to their website and only saw reports comparing coverage between different Cell Networks not data on a Per Device Level?    If so how does the X and XS compare to Pixel phones and Samsung Galaxy?
    Where did the author say that?
  • Reply 18 of 24
    If the iPhone doesn’t have 5G capability this year, I will wait and continue to use the iPhone X. 
  • Reply 19 of 24
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    tjwolf said:
    k2kw said:
     Ok , how did the author get that the XS is twice as fast as the X?   I followed the link to their website and only saw reports comparing coverage between different Cell Networks not data on a Per Device Level?    If so how does the X and XS compare to Pixel phones and Samsung Galaxy?
    Where did the author say that?
    Sorry I mean the 26% increase?   Where does that really come from because OpenSignal doesn't say anything on their website?
    (It's natural to expect the change because of the twice as many antennas 4x4).   
  • Reply 20 of 24
    GabyGaby Posts: 190member
    There is a major difference between MB/s and Mb/s and that is where the mistake has been made. For example 200Mb/s is equal to 20MB/s. One is Megabytes, the other Megabits. 
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