iPhone 13 mini iPhone 13 mini noticeably poorer RF performance vs. iPhone 13 Pro?

[pgoelz]

I've done some searching and have not found much on this subject.

My wife bought a refurbished iPhone 13 mini to use in place of her larger iPhone 13 Pro Max when camping. Sadly, we are finding that it consistently underperforms her iPhone 13 Pro Max and my iPhone 13 Pro when it comes to connectivity, signal strength and cell data speed by about 50%. This is on Tmobile and in many different locations. In anything other than strong signal areas, it can have poor or no connection when my iPhone 13 Pro has a decent connection and data speed on the same carrier.

We took it to an Apple store and they did a full diagnostic (apparently including RF tests) and found no issues. Their only explanation was that the antennas were "smaller" on the mini, which I have a hard time buying.

Can anyone else speak to the RF and data performance of the iPhone 13 mini compared to other phones from the same era? So far, the 13 mini has been quite a disappointment.

 

[4sallypat]

I have noticed a similar difference between 14+ and 14PM - same physical sized - the Pro seems to have a different cellular RF modem and has a better signal / performance as a hotspot than my non Pro.

Also, the Wifi modem has different hardware as the 14PM automatically connects to prior Wifi without having to turn it on like the 14+ that needs to be manually connected each time.

Maybe the non Pro models do not have the hardware like the Pro ?

Another reason I am upgrading this year from 14+ to 16PM.

 

[pgoelz]

Thanks for that! I was assuming that the 13 mini and 13 Pro were the same inside. Perhaps not.

Paul

 

[Jackbequickly]

Might be the size of the antenna. The outside edges of our phones IS the antenna. Larger phones have a larger antenna. With a mini your hand also attenuates the signal.

 

[4sallypat]

Someone might have more technical knowledge about the different Qualcomm cellular modems being used in the iPhones.

I know the new upcoming 16 is using 2 different types of RF modems - x75 SnapDragon for Pro and x70 for non Pro models.

This tells me that cellular performance differs based on which model you use.

Also would be nice to know what bandwidth differences there are - 2x2 vs 4x4....

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/14/iphone-16-pro-qualcomm-x75-modem-rumor/

 

[pgoelz]

Might be the size of the antenna. The outside edges of our phones IS the antenna. Larger phones have a larger antenna. With a mini your hand also attenuates the signal.

Just FWIW..... when we were having the most serious issues and comparing phones, I was using a Samsung S23 (same physical size as the iPhone 13 Pro) which substantially out performed the iPhone 13 Mini and even my wife's iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The differences persisted even with the phones laid on a wooden table.

Paul

 

[Jackbequickly]

Just FWIW, OK . . . .