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Sept 2016 Nordic Study: iPhones have worst antennas

I

Idefix

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 10, 2012
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Just saw this:

"In a major Nordic study, Apple’s iPhone 6S landed at the bottom of the pile when it comes to call quality and range – especially for those who hold their phones in their left hand....
According to the results of his study, the four different iPhone models examined – the SE, 6, 6S and 6S Plus – were the four worst phones for voice services when the devices are held in the user’s left hand."

Here's the study:

http://www.pts.se/upload/Rapporter/Tele/2016/MobilephoneTest2016-augusti-2016.pdf

Here's a summary:

http://www.thelocal.dk/20160905/iphone-models-have-worst-antenna-signal-nordic-study
 
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I don't really see this as much of a surprise. The iPhone has always typically ranked at average rf performance at best. Antennae style and appearance in relation to the overall phone design has always come first over performance.
 
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AutoUnion39 said:
I've been using an iPhone for years. I can't think of a single scenario where I was like "Oh crap, my iPhone RF performance was crap, I wish I had XX phone"
Click to expand...
After this study you won't be able to talk on your iPhone and will constantly be having reception issues. ;)
 
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AutoUnion39 said:
I've been using an iPhone for years. I can't think of a single scenario where I was like "Oh crap, my iPhone RF performance was crap, I wish I had XX phone"
Click to expand...

It depends on where you are. There are rural areas that even Verizon and AT&T don't cover all that well. In that event RF performance does make a difference.
 
iPhones do not have the worst antennas. Who cares about call quality anyway?
They ranked in the midfield for data services, I think that's much more important nowadays.
 
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AutoUnion39 said:
I've been using an iPhone for years. I can't think of a single scenario where I was like "Oh crap, my iPhone RF performance was junk, I wish I had XX phone"
Click to expand...
Im not sure how they determine whether it's the radio or antenna but it matters at my house. I've left messages with people to not get return calls only to find out my message would cut in and out. Have to repeat myself on phone calls too. My dad has never had problems with his Motorola. I even live in a city (albeit the edge) whereas my dad lives in an unincorporated area.

If this study is at all accurate it makes me concerned with the new 7 as it appears they've removed some antenna for aesthetic reasons.
 
gim said:
...Who cares about call quality anyway?
Click to expand...

Umm, me.

And the people I talk to on my iPhone.

Interesting that SE has best left-handed voice service of iPhone models... you'd think the Plus would.
 
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gim said:
iPhones do not have the worst antennas. Who cares about call quality anyway?
They ranked in the midfield for data services, I think that's much more important nowadays.
Click to expand...


I care, I make many calls and Quality is very important to me, speak for yourself
 
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gim said:
Who cares about call quality anyway?
Click to expand...

Considering this is a phone, and one of the primary purposes of a phone is to make calls, I'd say a lot of people care. I drive a lot for work and so I spend a lot of time on the phone because it's not convenient for me to text or email while driving.

Being in a fairly rural area, I can confirm that iPhone calls are hit or miss. Lately it's been a lot more miss. One of the big issues I have with the GSM network is that, when switching between LTE/4G/Edge, the iPhone will drop a call every time. It happens to me constantly on my personal phone and my work phone, both of which are iPhones. It has been present since the very first iPhone right up through my current iPhone 6. You'll drive through an area where LTE service cuts out and switches to 3G/4G and immediately the person you're talking to won't be able to hear you. I'll glance at my phone and see 1 bar of LTE service. If I hang up or if the call drops, the service will immediately shoot up to 4 bars of 4G and then I can redial and talk as normal. When I drive back into an LTE area, the same thing happens. It's like the phone can't switch between them without requiring you to hang up first and redial. I have not experienced this with HTC phones I've used in the past.
 
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Most of my phone usage is in suburban and town areas where there's good coverage, but I can confirm that the iPhone seems to suffer a bit in reception compared to non-Apple devices that my friends use.

Battery drainage is also another side effect of poor reception because the radio has to spend more power to maintain a connection.
 
Having Verizon, I've always had good phone coverage with the iPhone. Being a lefty I didn't realize that hurt the reception though, but I use a blue tooth now anyways.
 
But they were all holding the phone wrong! Steve Jobs said this himself and he was right!
 
rsmith83 said:
Considering this is a phone, and one of the primary purposes of a phone is to make calls, I'd say a lot of people care.
Click to expand...

Disagreed. If there's one primary function of modern smartphones, it's mobile data usage and surely not making calls. And with that I mean classic calls over the mobile network, not services like Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp call etc. An average smartphone user uses data services for several hours every day, basically all the time he/she is not on wifi. Do you make calls for several hours every day?

ABC5S said:
I care, I make many calls and Quality is very important to me, speak for yourself
Click to expand...

I'm not speaking for anybody but me, and as you can see there's a question mark at the end of that sentence.
You care about call quality more than you care about your data connection? Good for you.
It's 2016, and I don't. If there's a good data connection, one can use many apps to make calls in better quality than over the classic cell network, as I mentioned above.
 
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Sometimes I tell people to just switch to FaceTime audio. It works so much better. I feel like there should be an app different from FaceTime that uses it because most users have no idea that you can do FaceTime without the picture part.
 
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TallManNY said:
Sometimes I tell people to just switch to FaceTime audio. It works so much better. I feel like there should be an app different from FaceTime that uses it because most users have no idea that you can do FaceTime without the picture part.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't having wifi calling enabled accomplish the same thing?
 
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gim said:
Disagreed. If there's one primary function of modern smartphones, it's mobile data usage and surely not making calls.
Click to expand...

+1

My text/email conversations vs phone calls is probably 20:1 or even higher. I find voice calls inefficient, and unactionable (i.e., can't copy text from them to make notes, tasks, or calendar events). Of course I'm not talking about hearing your kids' voices and other family related calls.

But I've never had a dropped call, or bad reception here in NYC on an iPhone. Elevators don't count.
 
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gim said:
Disagreed. If there's one primary function of modern smartphones, it's mobile data usage and surely not making calls. And with that I mean classic calls over the mobile network, not services like Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp call etc. An average smartphone user uses data services for several hours every day, basically all the time he/she is not on wifi. Do you make calls for several hours every day?



I'm not speaking for anybody but me, and as you can see there's a question mark at the end of that sentence.
You care about call quality more than you care about your data connection? Good for you.
It's 2016, and I don't. If there's a good data connection, one can use many apps to make calls in better quality than over the classic cell network, as I mentioned above.
Click to expand...
Somehow I'm thinking that calls still represent a main function for many (if not very many even).
 
Idefix said:
it seems that Apple is acknowledging this problem. The iPhone 7 has re-located antenna bands:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16...how-relocated-antenna-bands-unexpected-cutout

We'll see for sure tomorrow!

And if Apple does relocate the antenna bands, that means they've known about the poor reception problems and have finally decided to do something about it.
Click to expand...
Assuming that's why they are doing it to begin with and not at least just as much for aesthetics/design purposes.
 
Every year the testing is done by the world's foremost and preeminent expert on antenna technology, Zack Morris.

IMG_0582.JPG
 
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