iPhone XS and XS Max Users Are Reporting Poor Cell and Wi-Fi Reception (theverge.com)

Some users who upgraded to an iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max over the weekend have reported poor cell and Wi-Fi reception and noticeably slower speeds when comparing their new phones to their older models. The Verge: According to users on Apple's support forum, MacRumors forums, and Reddit, the issue appears to be widespread across the country and not limited to any specific carrier. It's a frustrating issue, especially considering that the iPhone XS is supposed to have significantly faster data speeds on Wi-Fi and LTE compared to the iPhone X, according to data tests conducted by SpeedSmart. There's even a new antenna line running along the bottom of the phone as discovered by a recent iFixit teardown, which should have helped with reception. Additionally, folks at r/Apple, the most popular subreddit for iPhone and other Apple related discussions on the site, have corroborated the claims.

Comments

Apple support:

[Pubstar]

You're holding it wrong

Re: Apple support:

[Anonymous Coward]

These people had an iPhone with a superior Qualcomm modem before. Now they have a cheaper one from Intel. Enjoy

Re: Apple support:

[Anonymous Coward]

It's almost certainly this. If you've never used a phone with an Intel modem you'd be amazed at how bad they are. Anything below two bars might as well be "no signal" because the Intel modem flat-out can't decipher anything that weak. Speed starts dropping precipitously as you move away from the tower. Where a Qualcomm modem might be operating at 90% speed, an Intel modem will have already dropped to 50%. It's really quite impressive how bad they are.

And because Apple is mad at Qualcomm because Qualcomm doesn't like it when Apple steals their technology, iPhone users are stuck with broken Intel modems.

Re: Apple support:

[jezwel]

These people had an iPhone with a superior Qualcomm modem before. Now they have a cheaper one from Intel. Enjoy,

It's almost certainly this.

https://www.wiwavelength.com/2...

Apple's decision to forgo Qualcomm this year and source all cellular modems from Intel is not responsible for the RF power output limitations in the new iPhone models. The cellular baseband modem is separate from and well upstream of the amplifiers that generate the conducted power and antennas that generate the radiated power being measured in lab testing.
...where is all that power going? Where is it being diminished? The answer lies in antenna gain.
Indeed, deeper analysis of the FCC OET authorization filings shows the underwhelming EIRP figures to be almost entirely products of negative antenna gain.

Only affects a subset.

[Shouldbeworking]

This is only important if you plan to use the wireless connectivity functionality of the devices.

For those that don't get the joke...

[Pollux]

Eight years ago, when Apple debuted the iPhone 4, they re-engineered the antenna, making it into a stainless steel band running around the edge of the phone. But the antenna was actually two separate antennas, with a very narrow gap between them. If anything, including your hand, created enough of a conducting pathway between the two separate antennas, reception and 3G data quality reduced terribly. As this Anandtech article explained, "Anything conductive which bridges the gap in the bottom left couples the antennas together, detuning the precisely engineered antennas. It's a problem of impedance matching with the body as an antenna, and the additional antenna that becomes part of the equation when you touch the bottom left.

And so, when asked about the problem, Steve Jobs famously said, "Just avoid holding it in that way."

Technical analysis of new antenna shortcomings

[JoeyRox]

https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09/iphone-xs-and-xs-max-mostly-fail-to.html
https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09/antennagate-reduxs-if-so-what-can-apple.html