same here. I get only 1.5 bars on average when I'm home, so I do notice when things slow down. I'm baffled by Apple's decision to go with Intel's cheap and inferior modem. Is it all about their profit margin? penny pinching much?
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iPhone 7 Plus Qualcomm LTE Modem Outperforms Intel LTE Modem by Significant Margin
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same here. I get only 1.5 bars on average when I'm home, so I do notice when things slow down. I'm baffled by Apple's decision to go with Intel's cheap and inferior modem. Is it all about their profit margin? penny pinching much?
I got mine at ATT. How would I know if they even have the good one to trade for? I am within 14 days
Apple likes to make their suppliers complete with each other so Apple can negotiate lower prices.
I thought Apple was all about user experience, not supply chain competition.
Is that an accurate test?
I'm not convinced. Phones can easily reach a tower 50 miles away. Real signal strength issues are caused by buildings, not distance. I have -114 dbm now, if I walk a few feet to the balcony it's -96dbm. Outside on the street it's probably -85.
I have friends who maintain/install cell towers - they test by actually walking around in the real world and measuring performance with the signal bouncing off or being absorbed by real world objects/buildings.
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All AT&T phones are not true world phones. They are intel modems and don't work with Verizon or sprint. So when it's time to sell it, you won't get as much value as a Verizon iPhone 7.
Try the same test with one bar. That's what this story is about. The Intel modem.is slower with a weak signal vs weak signal with Qualcomm modem.
my tmobile iphone 6s consistently dropped service and calls on the same part of my commute every day even though it showed 1 bar. my tmobile iphone 7 plus still shows 1 bar but i haven't dropped a call and it doesn't appear data is interrupted either. from what i can tell there isn't a new tower or upgrade in place because i get the same 1 bar of service. i guess i'll just have to live with my real world results which contradict this study.
yeah everyone thinks conspiracy....that they were pitting suppliers against suppliers and screwing consumers
How about neither supplier could meet demand so they had to split it?
Thats a REAL WORLD answer, not the "Apple is out to get me" paranoia trolling
intel model phones hiss, have bad battery life and suck in lte performation. WOW.... talk about sticking it way up to the customer of intel lte modem phones.
2 bars in my basement with TMobile issued phone (40 down/3 up)
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1825512695
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/1825512695
Back of iphone by "iPhone" markings below is the model# A1XXX. A1660/A1661 = QC, A1778/1784 = Intel.
One could say some information was available at the time of purchase, in the same way fine print is available at the bottom of a very long contract. Apple was clearly eager to hide the information. The issue
1) They did not say the intel modem had inferior performance
2) They were (and are) very unclear about on which networks and in which countries the Intel version works. There is lot's of confusion about it, just see the various discussions on the forums. It is still not clear to me where my phone will work. I will have to wait and see when I travel. Again, Apple has been trying to hide information about this.
What Apple should have said: You can choose an intel version or a Qualcomm version. The Qualcomm version has superior speeds and works on all networks worldwide, the Intel version is slower and works only on some networks. Who wants the Intel version at the same price? That would have be honest information, but of course they didn't provide that. Nobody in their full frame of mind would have taken the Qualcomm version. It's like selling a car, but not being upfront about all the issues.
If you bought the Verizon iPhone then you don't have the Intel modem.
As you will have the CDMA model
It's all about user experience and Apple is all about supply chain competition. They try to have at least two suppliers for every component and will drop one of them if they underperform.
For example, in the iPhone 6S half the CPUs were made by Samsung and the other half by TSMC.
It turns out the TSMC processors have measurably lower power consumption... not enough to be noticeable (other things like how bright your room is and and cell signal strength have more effect) – however Apple's response was to have TSMC manufacture all iPhone 7 CPUs – along with rumours of renewed negotiating with Intel.
The differences between TSMC and Samsung likely didn't exist in prototype units - they only would have occurred in mass production.
This is standard practice, even Samsung does it. They originally blamed their exploding phones on batteries they made themselves, while the ones with a battery made by a third party supplier were supposed to be safe.
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