Apple has spent years developing its own mobile data modem to replace Qualcomm’s, which it has long depended on. The first Apple-designed modem, the C1 chip, debuted in the iPhone 16e and is expected to power the upcoming iPhone 17 Air. Performance comparisons with Qualcomm’s latest chip have been mixed, but a new Ookla study offers the most detailed analysis yet.
Comparing the performance achieved by the iPhone 16, which uses Qualcomm’s chip, with the iPhone 16e, which uses Apple’s own C1 chip, the company was see how each modem fared.
Ookla’s first study, published back in March, showed that the C1 chip beat Qualcomm in a number of key areas. That one showed that the C1 was better in areas of poor mobile coverage, but Qualcomm came out significantly ahead when it came to the areas with the fastest connections.
Performance doesn’t just depend on the chip, but also on the network on which it is used. That’s because different networks support different chip features, as noted in Ookla’s latest study.
For example, carrier aggregation is a technique used to combine different frequencies into a single mobile data connection so as to maximise the total bandwidth achieved. Qualcomm supports aggregation across four carriers, while the C1 modem only supports three. So if you’re on T-Mobile, then having a Qualcomm modem is an advantage.
MacDailyNews Take: For an iPhone, we’d much rather have a connected iPhone in poor coverage areas than a slightly faster connection in specific conditions.
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