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eagerwu

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 14, 2018
87
32
Beijing
Haven't received my Xr yet. Any one with an Xr to test the reception? The signal issue on Xs is driving me crazy...
 

nutmac

macrumors 603
Mar 30, 2004
6,127
7,555
I have XS and XR side-by-side right now. Both RSRQ and RSRP numbers aren't hugely different (LTE band 4), but XR is almost always 1 or 3 higher (as in closer to 0, since the numbers are in negative scale).
 
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1984

macrumors 6502a
Jan 1, 2005
633
222
My iPhone XR is horrible compared to my iPhone X so it's going back. < 1 Mbps vs 20 Mbps indoors. Both on channel 12. I've tried everything but nothing seems to fix it. Shame as I like it otherwise.
 

MrAperture

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2017
713
872
SF, CA
My iPhone XR is horrible compared to my iPhone X so it's going back. < 1 Mbps vs 20 Mbps indoors. Both on channel 12. I've tried everything but nothing seems to fix it. Shame as I like it otherwise.
Interesting. I thought they had the same antennas.
 

3DTV

macrumors newbie
Oct 30, 2010
26
4
Just upgraded to an XR from an SE. It’s the bollocks! So snappy and reposnive. Screen feels huge! Best iphone in years
[doublepost=1540591815][/doublepost]Battery life is really really impressive, which is a huge deal
 
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OTACORB

macrumors 68000
Jun 21, 2009
1,545
1,033
Central, Louisiana
One thing I noticed tonight is soon as I pulled into my drive when I got home is that my iPhone XR connected to my wireless connection. XS Max never connected until I got well into my house. Speed test are very good. Cellular in my few test are good and I traveled about 4 hours with it today in some pretty rural areas and I think it dropped to 4G one time, but two other people in the car one had no service and the others phone had also switched to 4G. Switching from 4G to LTE was pretty seamless in comparison to what my Max use to do at times. It was always very slow to switch back to LTE. So far so good! Fingers crossed that it continues that way!
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,338
12,112
Haven't received my Xr yet. Any one with an Xr to test the reception? The signal issue on Xs is driving me crazy...
Yes. Apple did, for their FCC submission. Signal strength is significantly better on the XR compared to the XS Max.

iPhone%2BXR%2BEIRP.png


iPhone%2BXS%2BMax%2BEIRP.png


With good signal though, the XS Max willl be faster due to the 4x4 configuration. The XR is 2x2.
 

killhippie

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2016
676
728
UK
Same as 6s for me as far as signal strength. Glad it’s not like the Xs and Xs max.
My XS has no issues with LTE at all and I get 4G in more places than my iPhone 7 (UK) and Wi-Fi is great I get a signal outside on 5Ghz in a car (of one bar) but that's more than my iPhone 7 had and its though 4 walls and the car too. Not all XS/XS Max models have LTE issues and it does seem more prevalent to US carriers but that's just by looking at this forum, no hard data of course.
 
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Stuey3D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2014
832
951
Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Yes. Apple did, for their FCC submission. Signal strength is significantly better on the XR compared to the XS Max.

iPhone%2BXR%2BEIRP.png


iPhone%2BXS%2BMax%2BEIRP.png


With good signal though, the XS Max willl be faster due to the 4x4 configuration. The XR is 2x2.
What is amazing is that both the Xs & the XR use the same XMM7560 modem, which means the antenna design on the XR must be superior in some way or that using it to its full 4x4 mimo config is causing the signal to degrade slightly.
 

idntknw

macrumors regular
Nov 11, 2012
154
19
I recently switched carriers and was curious if the XR would be any better than the 6s+ with signal in the rural area I live in. I haven't been able to test it with the usual routes yet but from what I can tell the signal strength seems the same as the 6s+ and the download speeds seem the same both LTE and wifi. I did notice yesterday that the XR switched to EDGE where as the 6s+ has never displayed EDGE. That could have been a network thing so who knows.

The same goes for the MAX it was really no different than the 6s+. The only issue I had with the MAX was when switching from wifi to LTE it wouldn't connect more times than not. I had to put it in and out of airplane mode to get it to connect. Hopefully I can get out and about today and do some more testing.
 
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meateater69

macrumors newbie
Oct 2, 2018
14
14
I had 2 XSs and both had poor reception wifi and lte on VZW. I just got the XR and it has better reception on both wifi and lte than the XSs and slightly better than my previous iphone 7. I know the XS and the XR were using same band for lte. So far so good.
 
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killhippie

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2016
676
728
UK
What is amazing is that both the Xs & the XR use the same XMM7560 modem, which means the antenna design on the XR must be superior in some way or that using it to its full 4x4 mimo config is causing the signal to degrade slightly.
Same design as iPhone X I believe with a different modem, and as mentioned not all users suffer this issue oddly enough. Wi-Fi wise I have no issues at all. I guess carrier updates and a few firmware updates will sort things out along the way. I get a much better signal on the XS than the 7 thats for sure. Back to Wi-Fi I guess a lot is also down to the router that people use, and does it support 4x4 MU-Mimo and do you have more than two devices using Mu-Mimo to take advantage of this feature as well.
 

George Knighton

macrumors 65816
Oct 13, 2010
1,392
346
What is amazing is that both the Xs & the XR use the same XMM7560 modem, which means the antenna design on the XR must be superior in some way or that using it to its full 4x4 mimo config is causing the signal to degrade slightly.

Some people speculate that it's the stainless steel band that's hurting RF signal capture on the XS and XS Max.

The FCC figures, plus the new testimony of people saying that they have an XR that has better signal than an XS tends to bear this out, at least anecdotally.

This is also why so many people are saying that no change to iOS can help LTE RF signal capture, because it's hurt by the stainless steel.

The WiFi signal issue was assisted by an iOS change because in the case of WiFi, iOS was preferring a 2.4 GHz signal when it was close to a 5.0 GHz signal that it should have grabbed.
 

ssledoux

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2006
4,326
4,192
Down south
Mine has actually seemed a little worse than my 8+ in certain areas of my house. The problem is, we are fairly rural, WiFi isn’t an option as data is the only internet option I have, and I have no idea if it’s truly the phone or just a crappy data day (since we seem to be having more and more of those - thanks AT&T).

When I am actively getting signal though, it is really snappy. I’m excited to try it out at my daughter’s this evening with her wi-fi just to see if I notice a difference in speed.

I love the phone and I’m not returning it, so I’ll learn to adjust. ;-p
 

Mackinjosh

Suspended
Aug 21, 2014
1,181
1,697
All the signals I use the phone for have been very reliable. It connects quickly, and stays connected, to Wifi. LTE signal is very good despite me living in a bit of a dead zone for ATT. Also very impressed with the bluetooth strength. My previous two devices would often cut out while I walked if I even brushed my hand across my headphones, but connected to the XR I've yet to hear a cut-out.
 

idntknw

macrumors regular
Nov 11, 2012
154
19
While driving around some usual areas yesterday I had "no service" and some places where there are usually two bars there were one. I'm just going on the signal strength bars and haven't seen if it would actually drop a call but I did try when there was "no service" and it wouldn't go thru. Just to make sure that it wasn't giving an incorrect reading.

Also I just did a speed test and was getting 3-4mb down slower consistently than the 6s+. I have to switch phones with the same sim but this was done back to back and three tests in a row with this method.

So since what I've read about the Max having some signal issues, is it possible a carrier or OS update will fix it?
 
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vinegarshots

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2018
956
1,320
Some people speculate that it's the stainless steel band that's hurting RF signal capture on the XS and XS Max.

The FCC figures, plus the new testimony of people saying that they have an XR that has better signal than an XS tends to bear this out, at least anecdotally.

This is also why so many people are saying that no change to iOS can help LTE RF signal capture, because it's hurt by the stainless steel.

The WiFi signal issue was assisted by an iOS change because in the case of WiFi, iOS was preferring a 2.4 GHz signal when it was close to a 5.0 GHz signal that it should have grabbed.

Stainless steel blocks RF signals just as much as aluminum does. It's not the stainless steel band.
 
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Stuey3D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2014
832
951
Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Stainless steel blocks RF signals just as much as aluminum does. It's not the stainless steel band.
Was gonna say that as the X is made out of the same steel.

I wonder if trying to connect to 4 different frequencies at once for the gigabit LTE is causing a weakness overall, maybe one of the frequency bands is being received at a lower quality of the others and the phone is basing its signal reporting on the weakest frequency being received?

Either that or the power amplification stage works better with 2 antennas as opposed to 4 which is why the early reports suggest the XR is having a better signal than the XS series despite it having the same modem.
 
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