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iPhone 17 Pro Max Teardown Reveals Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 Modem for 5G

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While the iPhone Air is equipped with Apple's custom C1X modem for cellular connectivity, all of the iPhone 17 models are outfitted with Qualcomm modems still.

iPhone-17-Pro-Colors.jpg

A teardown video shared on Chinese platform Bilibili today (via Reddit) appears to confirm the iPhone 17 Pro Max is equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 modem in particular. The same modem is likely used in the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro.

Qualcomm says the Snapdragon X80 contains AI accelerator hardware that intelligently enhances cellular data speeds, latency, coverage, and power efficiency.

In addition, the Snapdragon X80 modem supports mmWave 5G, which is available on iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max models sold in the U.S. only. Apple's C1 modem in the iPhone 16e and C1X modem in the iPhone Air are limited to sub-6GHz 5G.

mmWave is a set of 5G frequencies that promise ultra-fast speeds at short distances, which is ideal for dense urban areas. By comparison, sub-6GHz 5G is generally slower than mmWave, but the signals travel further, better serving suburban and rural areas.

iPhone 18 Pro models are expected to use Apple's custom C2 modem, with mmWave 5G support, as Apple continues to phase out Qualcomm modems.

The Snapdragon X80 is already outdated. Qualcomm has since unveiled its Snapdragon X85 modem, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said Android smartphones using it would have a "huge delta" in performance compared to iPhones.

We are still waiting for Snapdragon X80 vs. C1X speed tests.

Article Link: iPhone 17 Pro Max Teardown Reveals Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 Modem for 5G
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/09/19/iphone-17-pro-max-qualcomm-snapdragon-x80/
Last edited:
TechieGeek said:
Wish there were benchmarks on the latency / ability to hold onto a weak signal in subway or elevator / speed to reconnect to cellular between stations, etc.

I really wish the reviewers did tests like this. This stuff matters.
Click to expand...

Thorough testing like that would lead to super long reviews. That being said I live for long-form media so I would eat this up.
 
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TechieGeek said:
Wish there were benchmarks on the latency / ability to hold onto a weak signal in subway or elevator / speed to reconnect to cellular between stations, etc.

I really wish the reviewers did tests like this. This stuff matters.
Click to expand...
Not a full coverage of this but Mrwhostheboss review actually does talk about this as he noticed much better signal strength, performance vs an older phone.

I don't think this is say as much down to the X80 but more that Apple has put more antenna lines around the phone as I believe they go around the side of the phone but not also around the camera bump. So overall with both that and the X80 it is a noticeable improvement.
 
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TechieGeek said:
Wish there were benchmarks on the latency / ability to hold onto a weak signal in subway or elevator / speed to reconnect to cellular between stations, etc.

I really wish the reviewers did tests like this. This stuff matters.
Click to expand...

There are. Most famously the Qualcomm engineer who started a fake blog about testing cellular devices (to bash Apple/Intel) has the ability to do just that with the half million dollar test equipment he shows on his blog.

But he didn’t do any of those tests and just ran a basic speed test and drew conclusions from that very limited subset.

As for reviewers, they could never conduct such tests with any accuracy at all. Far too many variables they have no control
Over or even the ability to detect.
 
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TechieGeek said:
Wish there were benchmarks on the latency / ability to hold onto a weak signal in subway or elevator / speed to reconnect to cellular between stations, etc.

I really wish the reviewers did tests like this. This stuff matters.
Click to expand...
Mrwhostheboss was the only testing from early reviews I could find. The results looked like a galaxy phone up against any iPhone.
 
TechieGeek said:
Wish there were benchmarks on the latency / ability to hold onto a weak signal in subway or elevator / speed to reconnect to cellular between stations, etc.

I really wish the reviewers did tests like this. This stuff matters.
Click to expand...
But wouldn't this all be highly dependent on cellular coverage in your area, building construction, signal strength, etc? It's not something that would be very consistent from location to location. Do you have 5G in your area? What about mmWave? Or are you stuck with just LTE? Are you in a rural area or in a dense metro area? There are too many variables.

Now running Geekbench, performing battery tests on Wi-Fi, gaming benchmarks, etc., are all pretty highly repeatable no matter the location. But cellular? All bets are off then.
 
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TechieGeek said:
Wish there were benchmarks on the latency / ability to hold onto a weak signal in subway or elevator / speed to reconnect to cellular between stations, etc.

I really wish the reviewers did tests like this. This stuff matters.
Click to expand...
It really does, my 15 Pro battery gets hammered and its mostly because of my cell provider trying to find a tower.

Looking forward to Apple getting more into this space just to get some battery efficiency in the long run too.
 
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iKnowMr.Jobs said:
Glad to see! No doubt the C-series modems are far better than the old Intel modems in the pre-iPhone 12 phones, but I’ll still gladly skip all products that have the first few iterations of them.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what Qualcomm modem is in my 14PM, but the C1X is my Air is delivering improved signal strength and speed over it. I live in a 31st floor apartment and have two eSIMs with different providers here. One would usually sit between 3-4 bars and the other 1-2 bars on the 14PM. Both now show solid 4 bar signal and are delivering better performance with web page loading and apps like Instagram and Facebook. I didn’t think to run speed tests prior to transferring the SIMs across so the speed experience is very much what I’m perceiving.
 
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Moukee said:
AI in the modem increases cell tower coverage. Sure.
Click to expand...
Although it seems crazy, I would not rule it out.
Transmitting and recieving 5G signals is not like raising the antenna on your grannys old FM radio. It is crazy complicated physics involved and there are a lot of calculations done to optimize reception by using the antennas in smart ways. Qualcomm has a full portfolio on methods to improve reception.
Using "AI" (I'd rather call this machine learning) to predict how reception will change and adjust the antenna usage accordingly can be of good use in low reception areas.
 
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Good to know about this. C series chip will definitely become better and maybe even offer some battery life savings. For now the Qualcomm on the Pro models should be more than enough.
 
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