Can S24 on T-Mobile beat iPhone's 5G speeds after Apple swallowed its modem pride?

Can S24 on T-Mobile beat iPhone’s 5G speeds after Apple swallowed its modem pride?،

The last Ookla A report on the phones with the fastest 5G download speeds in the US showed two atypical winners – Apple's new iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro – which recorded median download speeds of 215 Mbps, respectively. and 189 Mbps.

In addition, there was “no statistical winners in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2023” between Apple's iPhones and Samsung's Galaxies which have been at the top of this ranking for years now.

Samsung vs Apple Carrier Network Download Speeds

Well, Samsung phones scored a bit higher, with a median download speed of 114 Mbps, but with the advent of iPhone 15 Pro line Apple has apparently managed to finally catch up with Samsung phones like the Galaxy S23 series when it comes to 5G speeds. What happened?

Apple has given up on making its own 5G modem

Apple adopted Qualcomm, that's what. The world's most advanced cellular connectivity chipmaker provides the Snapdragon X70 5G modem inside the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, and it is the same one that Samsung also uses for the Galaxy S23 series. Just take a look at the modems and chipsets that top the speed rankings of American operators and it is immediately clear how Apple managed to finally catch up with Samsung:

Snapdragon
Snapdragon 8 generation 2 (Galaxy S23) – 173.55 Mbps download / 13.13 Mbps upload / 52 ms latency
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (Galaxy Z Fold 4) – 169.27 Mbps download / 11.95 Mbps upload / 53 ms latency

Apparently, the days of Apple using Intel modems for its first 5G-enabled iPhones out of spite are over, and the fiasco that followed when their download speeds were compared to those of Samsung phones, or even next-generation iPhones equipped with a Qualcomm modem.

In fact, for all its experience making high-end A-series chipsets for iPhone, iPad, and even Mac, Apple couldn't solve all the complexities of a power-hungry 5G modem with all the support frequency loading and interference filters. which must be there and certified by carriers around the world.

The chip Apple actually made after a few years of engineering effort was so large that it could take up half the internal space of an iPhone, so it had to resort again to Snapdragon X-series modems from Qualcomm. Apple poached a number of employees from Intel and Qualcomm for its modem project named Sinope, but the company immediately faced insurmountable challenges. For example, when the first prototype was tested, Apple found that it was very slow and heated up quickly. The biggest change of heart, however, occurred because of the scale of Apple's initial effort, with the resulting modem circuit board as large as half an iPhone.

Qualcomm's X70 5G chip takes up a fraction of Apple's homebrew modem space - Can the S24 on T-Mobile beat the iPhone's 5G speeds after Apple swallows its modem pride?

Qualcomm's X70 5G chip takes up a fraction of the space in Apple's homebrew modem

In short, Apple tried unsuccessfully to create its own 5G modem and decided to simply pay to resolve all legal disputes with Qualcomm and sign a long-term partnership on cellular connectivity. It is also rumored to have frozen its 5G modem project “Sinope” indefinitely. A good decision apparently, given that the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are now the fastest phones in terms of download speeds in the US, after years in Samsung's shadow.

T-Mobile could put a damper on iPhone download joy

T-Mobile has already announced that there are unique 5G network download speed optimizations that only the Galaxy S24S24+ and S24 Ultra will be able to benefit from it, so we are impatiently awaiting the clash of the titans Apple vs Samsung on its network:

T-Mobile's 5G standalone network features a four-carrier aggregation and soon an uplink carrier aggregation – the only network with these capabilities from a leading provider in the United States – offering uplink speeds up to 90% faster than Samsung Galaxy S23 and improving live video streaming, video calls and gaming. This means downloading a video is twice as fast on T-Mobile.

The specifications of the S24 Ultra 5G modem are again higher than those of the 15 Pro Max.

S24 Ultra 5G modem specifications are once again higher than 15 Pro Max”

Thus, with the imminent arrival of Galaxy S24 series, the iPhone 15 ProThe superiority of 5G may prove short-lived. After all, the S24 series is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset that packs a Snapdragon X75 5G modem that will still be a generation ahead of what the iPhone 15 Pro now offers, and Apple will only catch up with the iPhone 16 series.

The X75 5G modem is still rated for a maximum download speed of 10 Mbps, so on other carriers it may not offer the same carrier speed benefits as on T-Mobile's 5G network, except for uplink.

However, even if Apple is beaten again by Samsung and the iPhone 15 Pro also loses to the Galaxy S24 series on AT&T and Verizon, its change of heart on the Qualcomm modem would still be the right decision given the iPhone's stellar new performance when it comes to the network's download speeds. operator.