iPhone SE (2022) iPhone SE3 5G cellular speeds

[JPack]

Looks there are some significant real-world 5G speed differences in the SE3 compared to iPhone 13. The Speedtest numbers below are based on mid-band 5G in Hong Kong.



What's strange about the SE3 is it uses a completely new modem firmware. The SE2 used the exact same modem firmware as iPhone 11/Pro because it uses the same modem. Is the SE3 using a custom Qualcomm modem? Or maybe an X60 with certain speed features disabled? We won't know until a teardown is done.

 

[LFC2020]

Hmmm, looks like the modem has been neutered big times. ?

Guess it’s due to the smaller battery & focusing on efficiency, or is it apple being cheapskates? ?

 

[pierino84]

The SE3 works only on sub 6GHz bands (no mmWave frequencies), and it uses 2x2 MIMO on N78 band while 5G standard requires 4x4 MIMO, therefore connection speed would definitely be impacted.

 

[HalfFullmoon]

What do you do with that high of a speed anyway? I have a 1gig Wi-Fi at home and even that I am thinking of reducing to 300Mbps. Because I replaced the modem recently and I was only getting 28Mbps speed, but I found that I was still able to stream a 4K video at 7Mbps. 99% don’t need 5G.

 

[pierino84]

What do you do with that high of a speed anyway? I have a 1gig Wi-Fi at home and even that I am thinking of reducing to 300Mbps. Because I replaced the modem recently and I was only getting 28Mbps speed, but I found that I was still able to stream a 4K video at 7Mbps. 99% don’t need 5G.

The benefits of 5G are not only increased bandwidth, but smaller latency and RF spectrum usage optimization (more devices connected at once on a single band).
Good for you that you can stream 4k with 7Mbps, my adsl rated at 11Mbps stutters if I try any 4k stream.

 

[HalfFullmoon]

The benefits of 5G are not only increased bandwidth, but smaller latency and RF spectrum usage optimization (more devices connected at once on a single band).
Good for you that you can stream 4k with 7Mbps, my adsl rated at 11Mbps stutters if I try any 4k stream.

Hmm, still not convinced on need for 5G. To me, your explanation seems like it benefits cellular companies more than customers. So, a densely populated area like a city would benefit from this.

Also, my 4K movie stream was streaming at 7Mbps according to Netflix, but the WiFi download rate was around 28Mbps.

 

[ian87w]

What do you do with that high of a speed anyway? I have a 1gig Wi-Fi at home and even that I am thinking of reducing to 300Mbps. Because I replaced the modem recently and I was only getting 28Mbps speed, but I found that I was still able to stream a 4K video at 7Mbps. 99% don’t need 5G.

5G is not for you as an individual. 5G is for the carriers as it allows more bandwidth and more devices to be connected at the same time.

In the past, only phones have connectivity to cellular networks. Now, we have smartwatches, POS devices, tablets, CCTVs, IoTs, and more people have more than one phone on them. All of these things are competing for bandwidth. 5G is here to address that.

5G is inevitable. All new iPhones will be 5G capable by the end of this year when Apple discontinue the 11.

If you don’t want 5G, it’s okay. You can switch them off and stick with 4G.

 

[jntdroid]

Looks there are some significant real-world 5G speed differences in the SE3 compared to iPhone 13. The Speedtest numbers below are based on mid-band 5G in Hong Kong.

View attachment 1973694

What's strange about the SE3 is it uses a completely new modem firmware. The SE2 used the exact same modem firmware as iPhone 11/Pro because it uses the same modem. Is the SE3 using a custom Qualcomm modem? Or maybe an X60 with certain speed features disabled? We won't know until a teardown is done.

View attachment 1973697

It uses a Qualcomm X57, which so far appears to have been made just for the SE. Maybe it's an X60 without UWB capabilities? Who knows...

Plus, all the reasons pierino84 laid out above.