The iPhone 16 Pro has seen a significant upgrade with the inclusion of a new Qualcomm modem, which delivers several key enhancements. According to reports from SpeedSmart, this new Snapdragon X75 modem enables the iPhone 16 Pro to achieve 5G download speeds that are up to 26% faster than previous models.
Initial testing has revealed an average increase of 23.7% in 5G download speeds for both the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max across major U.S. carriers. Verizon appears to gain the most from this new modem, enjoying a 26.4% uptick in speeds, with AT&T and T-Mobile not far behind. Notably, upload speeds have also improved across all carriers:
T-Mobile and Verizon demonstrate robust performance with download speeds exceeding 400 Mbps on the new iPhones. These speeds may further increase as T-Mobile enhances its 5G UC and Verizon expands its UW coverage.
AT&T reported a healthy 25.7% improvement in 5G download speeds with the latest iPhone models. Additionally, the Snapdragon X75 has shown a commendable increase in upload speeds, a crucial but often overlooked aspect of performance. On all three networks, upload speeds have risen by 22.1%, consistently surpassing 30 Mbps.
Generally speaking, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 modem is designed to support advanced 5G functionalities while operating with lower power consumption. It also enhances carrier aggregation capabilities for quicker upload speeds, according to SpeedSmart. While it is suspected that the standard iPhone 16 uses the older Snapdragon X70 modem, official confirmation is still pending.
As previously mentioned, all four models in the iPhone 16 lineup support Wi-Fi 7. This new technology provides significant improvements, including reduced latency and dramatically increased transfer speeds, hitting up to 46 Gbps—over five times quicker than the existing Wi-Fi standard.
Apple is also actively developing its own 5G modem to phase out reliance on Qualcomm. Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently suggested that Apple could introduce its first in-house 5G modems in select models by 2025. For the moment, however, Apple continues to utilize Qualcomm’s modems.
Further testing of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro will be conducted once the devices are released later this month.
