iPhone 14 Pro delivers huge gains in 5G speeds thanks to a brand new modem
Apple talked about the new Dynamic Island, the Always-On display feature and the better cameras on the iPhone 14 Pro series that just launched recently, but it did not even mention one of the most important improvements in connectivity: a new Qualcomm modem that is now shown to enable faster 5G speeds.
In an iPhone 14 Pro connectivity test, SpeedSmart measured that 5G speeds on T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless in the United States have a huge improvement and all of that is thanks to the new Snapdragon X65 modem they use.
Download speeds on T-Mobile reached an incredible 255.9 Mbps for downloads, up from 173.8 Mbps on the previous 13 Pro model. That's nearly 50% faster, and calling it a massive improvement is well deserved!
Download speeds on T-Mobile 5G are nearly 50% faster
On Verizon Wireless, the iPhone 14 Pro scored download speeds of 175.6 Mbps, up from 126.3 Mbps on the iPhone 13 Pro, which is about 40% faster, again huge!
And we can see similar gains to upload speeds as well. On the T-Mobile network upload speeds hit 28.2 Mbps, a 25% boost, and similarly on Verizon Wireless uplink speeds hit 27.3 Mbps, up from 21.6 Mbps on the 13 Pro.
(Image Credit - SpeedSmart) iPhone 14 Pro scores faster 5G speeds thanks to its new Snapdragon X65 modem
For years, Apple was said to be developing a modem of its own in an effort to replace the Qualcomm ones, but just a couple of months prior to the launch of the iPhone 14 series, leaksters revealed that the effort has allegedly failed and Apple has had to abandon or at least suspend the idea.
Apple uses the new Qualcomm X65 modem across all four new iPhone 14 models
That is the story of how we ended up with a Qualcomm modem again in the iPhone 14 Pro, and judging by the results above, users should be happy with it. Let us remind you that the Qualcomm X65 modem is also used in most Android flagships this year, including the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S22 series, so Apple is not breaking new ground here, but actually catching up with the competition.
And if you want to learn about all the internal components inside the new iPhones, iFixit has you covered with high-resolution photos and explanation of each iPhone 14 Pro component right here.
A screenshot of the iPhone 14 Pro internals confirms Qualcomm's X65 modem
And if you are wondering how we can be so sure that this is the exact radio Apple is using in the new iPhone 14 Pro series, that information comes from a teardown of the device by WekiHome on YouTube, so even though Apple is not officially saying this, it is now confirmed.
The new modem helps not only with faster 5G speeds, but also uses less power consumption, and also has improved mmWave support which is important for the United States.
The new Qualcomm X65 modem is also the component that gives the new Pro iPhones support for the 2.4 GHz n53 band, which is used by Globalstar for the new satellite connectivity features.
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