Qualcomm study says its modems are still better than Apple’s

Qualcomm’s modem {hardware} outperforms Apple’s C1 modem used within the iPhone 16e, in line with the outcomes of a brand new research commissioned by Qualcomm.

Mobile Insights put collectively the research, which in contrast the 5G efficiency of the C1-equipped iPhone 16e to 2 unnamed Android smartphones. The primary, dubbed ‘Android A,’ was a 2025 flagship with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X80 modem, whereas ‘Android B’ was a 2024 flagship with the X75 modem. The exams have been carried out in New York Metropolis utilizing T-Cellular’s sub-6GHz standalone 5G community.

Notably, the iPhone 16e is the first to sport Apple’s in-house modem, with earlier iPhones utilizing Qualcomm modems (or even Intel modems should you return far sufficient). With Apple attempting to maneuver away from Qualcomm’s modems, it’s no shock the corporate is serving up reminders that its tech is healthier.

And whereas that makes for a great headline, the precise report clarifies that “whereas all three units delivered considerably comparable 5G efficiency beneath perfect, near-cell situations, efficiency deltas grew to become more and more pronounced as sign situations deteriorated.”

Qualcomm’s take a look at leads to the best-case situation.

Which is to say that more often than not, the C1 and the Qualcomm X75 and X80 modems will carry out roughly the identical. It’s edge instances the place Qualcomm can present extra of a lead.

Even in these edge instances, this doesn’t imply the iPhone was unusable; as an alternative, it simply received slower than the competing Android units. Within the under graphs, you possibly can see that the slowest the iPhone 16e received throughout the testing was 228Mbps down and 5Mbps up.

Edge case take a look at carried out inside a storage facility.

These aren’t nice outcomes, however I’d argue that 200Mbps down is probably going quick sufficient for something you’d need to do on a cellphone. The most effective Android handset was additionally solely getting 10Mbps up in the identical take a look at, so each are fairly restricted for uploads. (To not point out that the majority Canadian suppliers cap wireless speeds, usually at round 250Mbps.) This take a look at was additionally taken inside an city storage facility, so the telephones have been surrounded by steel and concrete, which is a worst-case situation for all units.

The report goes on to say that utilizing the 600MHz N71 bands can enhance Android’s modem add efficiency to 23 Mbps. Nevertheless, the cellphone needed to be manually configured to reap the benefits of this slice of spectrum, so it’s not precisely an enormous win for the common particular person. Nevertheless, it does communicate to how community optimizations could make a giant distinction in right now’s multi-band networks.

Extra to think about than simply pace

General, you can look at the charts in the full report and draw your own conclusion, however to me, all three modems are greater than sufficient. Most customers don’t actually take note of community speeds anymore since every little thing is quick sufficient.

I’d take the battery life and effectivity enhancements of the Apple C1 modem over the top-end speeds Qualcomm is touting. Certain, it could be nice to get most speeds on a regular basis, however essentially the most bandwidth-intensive factor I do on my cellphone is watching YouTube, so something above 50Mbps is normally positive. What does make a distinction in my life is getting some further battery life so I can watch content material longer, which is the problem Apple is attempting to unravel.

Nevertheless, the nuance goes a bit additional. Whereas the report doesn’t specify which Android telephones it examined, the Android A tool with the X80 within the report is listed as a flagship that prices US$799, making it extremely doubtless that it’s the Samsung Galaxy S25. That is dearer than the iPhone 16e, but it surely does have higher battery life, even with the Qualcomm modem. Each telephones have roughly 4,000 mAh batteries as nicely.

There may be precedent that as Apple strikes to the C2 and C3 modems over the following few years we’ll begin to see extra parity between Qualcomm and Apple, however for now, in order for you one of the best speeds you’ll doubtless desire a cellphone with a Qualcomm modem which might be Andoids and even the iPhone 16 Professional.

Facet notice: Whereas not precisely associated to mobile modems, some Android telephones will get higher Wi-Fi 7 speeds if in case you have a super-fast house community. For some purpose, Apple hasn’t carried out Multi-Hyperlink Operation (MLO) on any of its units, which suggests it’s caught on Wi-Fi 6E bands. MLO permits units to connect with a number of Wi-Fi bands (2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz), which might improve speeds.

Not all Android Telephones help this characteristic, although. As an illustration, the Pixel 9 line doesn’t, whereas the Galaxy S25 line does.

Supply: Cellular Insights