Every iPhone X Is Not Created Equal (pcmag.com)

According to a PC Magazine report that uses data from Cellular Insights, the Qualcomm-powered iPhone X has better LTE performance than the Intel-powered model. From the report: There are three iPhone X models sold globally. Using lab equipment, Cellular Insights tested two of them: the Qualcomm-powered A1865, sold by Sprint, Verizon, and U.S. Cellular and in Australia, China, and India; and the Intel-powered A1901, sold by most other global carriers including AT&T and T-Mobile. (The third model, A1902, is only sold in Japan.) Here in the U.S., we anticipate that the SIM-free model sold directly by Apple will be the A1865, as that's the model that supports all four U.S. carriers. For this test, Cellular Insights looked at performance on LTE Band 4, which is used by every major U.S. carrier except Sprint, as well as in Canada and parts of Latin America. Cellular Insights attenuated an LTE signal from a strong -85dBm until the modems showed no performance. While both modems started out with 195Mbps of download throughput on a 20MHz carrier, the Qualcomm difference appeared quickly, as the Intel modem dropped to 169Mbps at -87dBm. The Qualcomm modem took an additional -6dBm of attenuation to get to that speed. Most consumers will feel the difference in very weak signal conditions, where every dBm of signal matters, so we zoomed in on that in the chart below. At very weak signal strength, below -120dBm, the Qualcomm modem got speeds on average 67 percent faster than the Intel modem. The Intel modem finally died at -129dBm and the Qualcomm modem died at -130dBm, so we didn't find a lot of difference in when the modems finally gave out.

Comments

Learn boolean algebra, dammit

[ClickOnThis]

The correct phrase is "not every iPhone X is created equal." That means some are equal, but not all.

TFH says "every iPhone X is not created equal." That means each and every one is different for all the others. That is incorrect.

Sorry for ranting, but every time I see this mistake, I die a little.

Re:Range issues

[tlhIngan]

It's a "known issue" - every iPhone with an Intel modem has the same problem. It's why - if you have the choice - you want the model with the Qualcomm modem.

Apple is trying to make Intel modems "a thing" because they want to ditch Qualcomm. (See their recent feuding with Qualcomm.) But Intel modems are terrible. They're slower than Qualcomm's modem (so Apple artificially caps Qualcomm's modems in firmware) and - as you noticed and this article mentions again - they don't work at all at lower signal to noise ratios. They basically only work if you're close to the tower - as soon as you start to move away, they stop working.

This isn't really news - everyone knows the Intel modems are terrible - but Apple uses them anyway because they don't want to have to pay Qualcomm full price for a modem that works.

It's actually the problem. Qualcomm is using their secret sauce of patented tricks to keep working good and fast, because that secret sauce is what keeps people using Qualcomm.

It's why Qualcomm has the monopoly it does and why everyone is trying to ditch them. There aren't many modem manufacturers, and Apple making Intel "a thing" goes way back to the original iPhone (Apple chose Infineon for the modem provider, now owned by Intel).

Performance wise, you're right, Qualcomm rules. It's why Qualcomm charges what they charge for the chips, because they perform great. Power wise is a whole different issue altogether - Apple chose Infineon for the original iPhone because it was very aggressive at saving power - so much so that well, it took down the AT&T network. (At the time, Cingular/AT&T was begging Apple to use Qualcomm modems, the European Infineon ones saved lots of power but were adapted to the European networks that had expanded control channels. Apple felt that the power savings were worth it, and with initial projections of maybe a marketshare of 1% after 5 years, surely one phone can't take down the network...).

Apple is pissed off at Qualcomm because Qualcomm's fees are based on the retail price of the phone - if you make a $500 smartphone and a $1000 smartphone, use the exact same chip, the $1000 phone will cost you double in Qualcomm fees even though it's the same, and that's where Apple disagrees. Qualcomm knows they can charge it because they are performant, and they are pissed Apple cripples Qualcomm chips to Intel performance.

In short, yes Qualcomm are faster. Why, it's because Qualcomm has secret patent stuff they either are not sharing (or don't have to share) in order to make LTE faster. Apple is trying to get Intel going - either because their chips have better battery performance, or more importantly, trying to get a viable alternative to Qualcomm on the market and break the Qualcomm monopoly. There are few modem manufacturers out there - Qualcomm owned basically the lion's share of modem chipsets, then there's Intel and I think MediaTek.

Anyhow, of any cellphone manufacture rout there, perhaps Apple is the only one that could make a viable alternative to Qualcomm, which is why companies like Samsung are cooperating with Apple. (Qualcomm is also why Samsung phones in the US don't use Samsung processors, but instead use Qualcomm processors)