Apple has been working on its custom C1 modem for years, and it recently showcased the chip in its latest iPhone 16e. It was previously reported that the company's modem is capable but not as much as Qualcomm's. However, it does have an edge when it comes to power efficiency, which gives the iPhone 16e a battery boost. It is now being reported that Apple's C1 modem has outperformed Qualcomm modems in several benchmarks.

A new report by Ookla provides an excellent overview of Apple's C1 Modem with these key takeaways:

• AT&T and Verizon Speedtest® users experienced better median download speeds on the iPhone 16e than iPhone 16. However, the opposite was true for T-Mobile users. 

• Verizon Speedtest users with the iPhone 16e and the iPhone 16 experienced median download speeds that lagged behind that of both AT&T and T-Mobile. 
• iPhone 16e Speedtest users on Verizon’s network and AT&T’s network saw higher upload speed performance than those using the iPhone 16. However, T-Mobile users experienced the opposite and had slightly higher upload speeds on the iPhone 16 compared to the iPhone 16e.

Apple’s new iPhone 16e made its commercial debut in late February with much fanfare because it’s the first device to include the Apple-designed C1 modem. Historically, Apple relied upon Qualcomm to provide most of its iPhone modems so its decision to use the C1 modem in the iPhone 16e is considered a significant move. 

Although it’s early in the adoption curve for the iPhone 16e, we analyzed the performance of the new device from March 1st through March 12th, and compared it to the performance of iPhone 16, which has a similar design and the same 6.1” screen. Both devices run on the same Apple-designed A18 SoC. However, it’s important to note that unlike the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16e does not support mmWave spectrum. This is the first iPhone available in the U.S. without mmWave support but we expect future iterations of the C1 modem will include it.

iPhone 16e Outperforms on Download Speeds for AT&T and Verizon, but not T-Mobile

Speedtest data shows the iPhone16e recorded faster median download speeds than the iPhone 16 on both AT&T and Verizon’s networks, but was markedly slower on T-Mobile’s network. 

iPhone 16e users on T-Mobile’s network experienced median download speeds of 264.71 Mbps, which is at least 47% faster than iPhone 16e users on Verizon’s network that experienced median download speeds of 140.77 Mbps. The download speed performance for iPhone 16e users on AT&T’s network was 226.90 Mbps, closer to that of T-Mobile users. 

However, when comparing median download speeds for T-Mobile users with the iPhone 16e (264.71 Mbps) to T-Mobile users with the iPhone 16 device (357.47 Mbps), the iPhone 16 outperformed the iPhone 16e by at least 24%.

The iPhone 16e’s underperformance in median download speed compared to the iPhone 16 on T-Mobile’s network is most likely due to the fact that T-Mobile is the only US carrier to have a nationwide commercialized 5G standalone network (SA) and one of the few operators globally to deploy significant spectrum depth and advanced features like carrier aggregation (CA) on the new 5G architecture. 

The C1 modem’s more limited capabilities on 5G SA networks compared to the Qualcomm modem in the iPhone 16 may be a key factor contributing to the larger performance gap between device models observed on T-Mobile’s network in early testing.

For more details and charts, review the full report by Ookla.