iPhone 18 Pro Could Use Qualcomm Modem in the US and C2 Elsewhere

[noraa]

Are you a physicist? I’ve worked in the industry. I’ve been doing this stuff for decades. I’ve done the tests myself. But sure, Verizon lied to me with multi gig speed tests from a mmWave small cell that was visually confirmed and verified by field test through the exterior wall of the restaurant.

People have been spouting this nonsense about "mmWave doesn’t work through walls, through trees, through body tissue" for years. It’s simply not true. Cover the mmWave antenna on your phone and induce your phone to bond some mmWave component carriers — it’ll work.

mmWave attentuates almost the same over distance in clear air than through most other outdoor materials/bodies. There are some building materials that will significantly degrade it, but wood frame and a drywall panel isn’t enough in many circumstances. The distance to and power configuration of the radio will make a difference, but a dense mmWave deployment on urban street corners, as you often see with Verizon, typically covers the interior rooms facing and closest to the radio as long as there are no additional obstructions. And that is because it is engineered that way.

While I myself am not a physicists, I studied aerospace engineering in college and I actually know quite a few physics, and they will all tell you mmWave is easily blocked by walls, hands, etc. This is not an arguable point, it is physical fact.

In other words, you’re wrong, you don’t want to admit you’re wrong, and thus you continue to spout nonsense.

In any case, I’m officially done discussing this with you as such a discussion is utterly useless when the other person won’t recognize the basic fundamentals of reality.

 

[platinumaqua]

While I myself am not a physicists, I studied aerospace engineering in college and I actually know quite a few physics, and they will all tell you mmWave is easily blocked by walls, hands, etc. This is not an arguable point, it is physical fact.

In other words, you’re wrong, you don’t want to admit you’re wrong, and thus you continue to spout nonsense.

In any case, I’m officially done discussing this with you as such a discussion is utterly useless when the other person won’t recognize the basic fundamentals of reality.

plus Verizon 5G-UW icon shows up on C bands; iPhone's Field Test Mode is buggy and doesn't always update fast enough or show the right band information

 

[noraa]

Different commenter here. This isn’t mmWave indoors? That was just a trial, but Verizon has been doing various indoor trials with it.

Samsung and Verizon Begin Trials of New Indoor Cell Sites to Extend 5G Coverage

Samsung Electronics America and Verizon recently began lab trials on new 5G mmWave in-building solutions which, when commercially launched, will provide 5G mmWave coverage inside facilities such as hospitals, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, schools, ports, retail stores and more. The...

news.samsung.com

That press release is mostly marketing, with not a lot of technical or overuse information, but it sounds like Verizon is testing (or has tested and maybe implemented, since the article is from 2020?) indoor mmWave 5G antennas, precisely because outdoor antennas broadcasting mmWave won’t penetrate walls to provide mmWave inside buildings.

 

[01cowherd]

Verizon lied to me with multi gig speed tests from a mmWave small cell that was visually confirmed and verified by field test through the exterior wall of the restaurant.

People have been spouting this nonsense about "mmWave doesn’t work through walls, through trees, through body tissue" for years. It’s simply not true.

From Verizon itself:

Millimeter wave spectrum [...] are more easily absorbed by trees and nearby buildings. [...] By contrast, lowband 5G–below 1 GHz for instance– [...] provide better indoor reception because it can penetrate walls.

5G Spectrum Bands: FAQs

5G's high speed, low latency and massive capacity provides amazing business opportunities. Learn more about the role of 5G spectrum bands in delivering 5G.

www.verizon.com

 

[neuropsychguy]

That press release is mostly marketing, with not a lot of technical or overuse information, but it sounds like Verizon is testing (or has tested and maybe implemented, since the article is from 2020?) indoor mmWave 5G antennas, precisely because outdoor antennas broadcasting mmWave won’t penetrate walls to provide mmWave inside buildings.

Which means it’s possible that commenter has been at one of the testing locations. It’s not clear where the teat sites are, but it seems like there are some around.

 

[noraa]

Which means it’s possible that commenter has been at one of the testing locations. It’s not clear where the teat sites are, but it seems like there are some around.

That is certainly possible, which doesn't negate my original point of mmWave not traveling through walls. if anything it proves my point.

 

[HiFifreak]

Didnt Mark Gurman prommised this since the Iphone 16?

 

[steve62388]

It's not really about better speeds, but about functional service. The issue in most areas with poor cell edge RSRP isn't that speeds are slower but acceptable, but that data service becomes entirely nonfunctional.

Assuming that a C2 baseband would actually get meaningfully better battery life, that does no good if you're in an area where a Qualcomm baseband would work and a C2 would not.

Depending on the market (eg the US), the C1X performs better than the X80 in poor signal conditions.

The Air Apparent: Apple’s Custom Silicon Comes of Age | Ookla®

Explore how Apple’s C1X modem performs in the real world, with Ookla Speedtest data from Q4 2025 showing the iPhone Air matching Qualcomm’s X80 download speeds while setting new latency benchmarks.

www.ookla.com

 

[steve62388]

This is simply untrue. Trees alone do not block it. Neither do most typical construction walls.

28 GHz outdoor-indoor coverage into modern office buildings with high thermal efficiency windows is found to be severely limited due to 46 dB median penetration loss at normal incidence and additional 15 dB median oblique incidence loss.

Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.03357

…results show that vegetation loss increases significantly after the second tree in the alley

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11125348/

 

[steve62388]

plus Verizon 5G-UW icon shows up on C bands; iPhone's Field Test Mode is buggy and doesn't always update fast enough or show the right band information

I wouldn’t necessarily blindly trust that. For example:

The 5G icon appears based on the configuration of the carrier network, and in rare cases, may appear even when 5G coverage isn't available.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-la/108383

 

[B-Mc-C]

While I myself am not a physicists, I studied aerospace engineering in college and I actually know quite a few physics, and they will all tell you mmWave is easily blocked by walls, hands, etc. This is not an arguable point, it is physical fact.

In other words, you’re wrong, you don’t want to admit you’re wrong, and thus you continue to spout nonsense.

In any case, I’m officially done discussing this with you as such a discussion is utterly useless when the other person won’t recognize the basic fundamentals of reality.

It was kind of fun to watch everyone bring him up to speed though.

 

[xpxp2002]

It was kind of fun to watch everyone bring him up to speed though.

Nobody "brought me up to speed." As I said in a prior post, the conditions under which I tested were well controlled and understood.

You all can continue to believe whatever you want to believe. But I know this technology, have worked with this technology, supported this technology, and the only reason I even spoke up at all is because the information you're claiming is simple false, and it's wrong to keep perpetuating the lies about mmWave not passing through trees, walls, etc. when that is simply not universally true.

 

[B-Mc-C]

Nobody "brought me up to speed." As I said in a prior post, the conditions under which I tested were well controlled and understood.

You all can continue to believe whatever you want to believe. But I know this technology, have worked with this technology, supported this technology, and the only reason I even spoke up at all is because the information you're claiming is simple false, and it's wrong to keep perpetuating the lies about mmWave not passing through trees, walls, etc. when that is simply not universally true.

You should tell Verizon they need to update their 5G Spectrum Bands FAQs someone linked above, where they are also “falsely” claiming mid-band works better than mmWave indoors because it can penetrate walls.