When Apple introduced theiPhone 16ea few weeks ago , one aspect that drew the most care was its meshwork potato chip . TheC1 is Apple ’s first in - planetary house modemto come along inside an iPhone , ditching the ship’s company ’s total reliance on Qualcomm . However , there were also business organisation about whether this modem is competitive .

The folk over at the democratic net speed examination chopine , Ookla , try out the Apple - designed modem and found that it beats Qualcomm ’s resolution inside theiPhone 16at a few crucial parameter . The psychoanalysis , which live roughly two workweek , overcompensate AT&T , Verizon , and T - wandering cellular networks .

On a general promissory note , the iPhone 16e perform better than the iPhone 16 when tether to AT&T and Verizon networks , while the reverse was true for T - Mobile . Ookla says the opposite T - Mobile result can be attribute to the common carrier ’s nationwide 5 1000 standalone connection ( SA ) , while Apple ’s C1 modem derive with circumscribed SA compatibility .

When the going gets tough, C1 rises

Interestingly , the iPhone 16e fares better than the Qualcomm modem - driven iPhone 16 in scenarios where connection connectivity is challenging . Ookla refers to it as the bottom tenth percentile wall bracket . Across all three carriers , Apple ’s C1 modem delivered better download speeds than its Qualcomm similitude .

Even on T - Mobile undulation , the iPhone 16e notched download fastness of 57.34 Mbps , while the iPhone 16 lags behind at 27.27 Mbps . But even at download speeds on the higher end , the iPhone 16e is no slouch . It notched peak downlink speeding in the range of 140 - 264 Mbps , which is enough for social medium , streaming , and cloud play .

The tables are flipped when it comes to peak download speeding because the Qualcomm modem put up financial backing for the quick mmWave nip of 5G. However , Ookla notes the lower percentile scores are the more meaningful metrics .

“ carrying out at the lowest tenth centile often put up a more accurate observation of overall quality of experience ( QoE ) than the fastest 90th percentile , which can be skewed by deployments in mmWave - covered localization and is subject to wane borderline returns , ” articulate the reputation .

Notching a second surprise win

Interestingly , the iPhone 16e scored another of the essence victory over the iPhone 16 at the all - too - important meshwork system of measurement of uplink speeds . Once again , on Verizon and AT&T networks , Apple ’s C1 modem proved faster than Qualcomm ’s modem , take a lead worth up to 38 % at upload speeds .

The results are remarkable , considering the fact that Qualcomm ’s modem offers better downlink carrier collection than Apple ’s C1 modem . Moreover , despite lacking support for uplink aircraft carrier aggregation technical school , the iPhone 16e was still able to exceed the iPhone 16 at upload speeds .

Another autonomous trial highlighted that theC1 modem was more vim efficient than Qualcomm ’s option , which mean the connectivity tax on the shelling is lower . Moreover , the smaller size of it of its in - household modem allow Apple to offer more battery succus on the affordable iPhone 16e than the pricier models in the iPhone 16 series .