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iPhone 12 Pro Max Why does iPhone 12 Pro Max not connect on WiFi as quickly as my Macbook Pro?

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kat.hayes

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 10, 2011
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I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and I have used the speedtest website to check my WiFi speed and it will show somewhere around 200Mbps and I will use the same website moments afterwards on my Macbook Pro and it will show around 400Mbps. Why is this? Both spots are relatively close to the router and the tests were done in the exact same spot only moments after each other. I did the tests several times with the same results.

Thanks
 
kat.hayes said:
I have an iPhone 12 Pro Max and I have used the speedtest website to check my WiFi speed and it will show somewhere around 200Mbps and I will use the same website moments afterwards on my Macbook Pro and it will show around 400Mbps. Why is this? Both spots are relatively close to the router and the tests were done in the exact same spot only moments after each other. I did the tests several times with the same results.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It all depends on the device and your router. Your MacBook is probably 4x4 Wi-Fi. While the iPhone I believe is 2x2. You’d need a faster Wi-Fi router for better speeds on your iPhone.

My 12 Pro max and 12 mini have no issue getting over 700mbps over Wi-Fi of course with the right wireless access points
 
1. What is 4x4 Wi-Fi and 2x2 mean?
2. I am using a Netgear Orbi wireless router and satellites.
3. If your phone can get those speeds and my Mac could get 400mbps why is the phone not also getting it?

Thanks
 
Hi Robert,

Not sure I understand. The phone is showing a different speed than the Mac, it is not that I am overly concerned by the different speed, I am just wondering why the speed is different.

Thanks
 
kat.hayes said:
Hi Robert,

Not sure I understand. The phone is showing a different speed than the Mac, it is not that I am overly concerned by the different speed, I am just wondering why the speed is different.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Your Wi-Fi chip in the MacBook is NOT the same as the Wi-Fi chip in your iPhone. Is the best way to describe it.
 
got it. but you are saying that the phone should be able to achieve faster speeds, and it might be that my Netgear Orbi router is the issue? That is the other thing I am trying to understand. If the router is able to send the fast signal to the Mac, why can't the phone also get the same fast signal if it is indeed capable of faster speeds? If I want to change routers what is it that I need to look into to make sure it will allow the faster speeds?

Thanks!
 
hyelton said:
It all depends on the device and your router. Your MacBook is probably 4x4 Wi-Fi. While the iPhone I believe is 2x2. You’d need a faster Wi-Fi router for better speeds on your iPhone.

My 12 Pro max and 12 mini have no issue getting over 700mbps over Wi-Fi of course with the right wireless access points
Click to expand...

hyelton said:
Your Wi-Fi chip in the MacBook is NOT the same as the Wi-Fi chip in your iPhone. Is the best way to describe it.
Click to expand...
Huh? OP has a 12 Pro Max, same as you do and you get 700. Yes, it is in fact 4x4.

@kat.hayes you should be seeing the same speeds. Or very close. Maybe it's time to T/S the WiFi router
 
Just tested. At home i am getting 400/40 on my 12 pro max and 465/44 on my M1 MacBook air on wifi.
My 2015 27" 5K iMac with data cable not wifi am getting 930/46.
 
For what it’s worth, in my back room the iPhone 12 PM gets about 250-370 mbps, whereas the 2019 mbp gets 470 regularly, around the same spot.
Asus wifi 6 router, both devices on 5ghz
Comcast 400mbps plan.

It’s not a problem, I just figured the mbp had larger/stronger/better antennas. Oh well.

OP, might be worth restarting the router or resetting your network settings on your phone. There’s so many variables with wifi though, it just depends on how much time you want to spend troubleshooting.
 
Last edited:
kat.hayes said:
1. What is 4x4 Wi-Fi and 2x2 mean?
2. I am using a Netgear Orbi wireless router and satellites.
3. If your phone can get those speeds and my Mac could get 400mbps why is the phone not also getting it?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I'll break it down as it could be your phone or your router:

Phone has 2 channels for wifi and good laptops have 4 channels

If your orbi is Wifi 5 (802.11ac) and supports 4x4 clients then
Phone can reach up to 866mbps in perfect conditions, laptop is double that because it has 4 channels

If your orbi is Wifi 6 (802.11ax) and supports 4x4 clients (only the most expensive orbi can support 4x4)
Phone can reach up to 2400mbps in perfect conditions. This leaves a lot of room for imperfect conditions to still max out your internet speed. A 4x4 wifi6 computer connected to a 4x4 router can reach up to 4800mbps.

So to sum it up, once you move further out you lose wifi speed and perhaps if you upgraded routers, you'd still have extra capacity to maintain your maximum internet speed.
 
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I found this thread because I’ve been trying to work out why my iPhone 12 seems to cap out at 520Mbps on speedtest whereas my MacBook Pro 2021 can reach 825Mbps. My router is an Asus XT8 and I have a gigabit internet connection but on LAN the highest I get is around 890Mbps in the middle of the night.

Given my iPhone 12 has wifi 6 2x2 I thought it would be closer to 6-700. Even my galaxy Z Fold2 can get 700Mbps in the same spot, and my old pocophone F1 from 2018 which doesn’t even have wifi 6 can get above 600Mbps consistently.

Note all wifi tests above were standing next to the router except the MacBook which was in a nearby table but further away.
 
jace88 said:
I found this thread because I’ve been trying to work out why my iPhone 12 seems to cap out at 520Mbps on speedtest whereas my MacBook Pro 2021 can reach 825Mbps. My router is an Asus XT8 and I have a gigabit internet connection but on LAN the highest I get is around 890Mbps in the middle of the night.

Given my iPhone 12 has wifi 6 2x2 I thought it would be closer to 6-700. Even my galaxy Z Fold2 can get 700Mbps in the same spot, and my old pocophone F1 from 2018 which doesn’t even have wifi 6 can get above 600Mbps consistently.

Note all wifi tests above were standing next to the router except the MacBook which was in a nearby table but further away.
Click to expand...

Your MacBook is most likely 4x4 while the iPhone is only 2x2. Don’t worry the iPhone 13 Pro is about the same Wi-Fi performance wise. While android side of things I can go over a gig over Wi-Fi without issue.

iPhone 13 Pro - between 650-750mbps

My laptop with a a budget Wi-Fi 6 card - 1400mbps.
 
hyelton said:
Your MacBook is most likely 4x4 while the iPhone is only 2x2. Don’t worry the iPhone 13 Pro is about the same Wi-Fi performance wise. While android side of things I can go over a gig over Wi-Fi without issue.

iPhone 13 Pro - between 650-750mbps

My laptop with a a budget Wi-Fi 6 card - 1400mbps.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing. If I had to sum it up are we basically saying the iPhone has an inferior wifi chip/antenna setup vs other phones and devices?

Edit: I just checked and apple says it’s 2/MIMO for MacBook pro 2021 as well so I’m still unsure why there’s such a discrepancy between it and my iPhone 12.

MBP: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/deployment/dep2ac3e3b51/web

iPhone: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/deployment/dep268652e6c/web

I appreciate this may be a deliberate choice by apple similar to the old Fast Ethernet on ATV (ie not gigabit) since there’s limited practical benefit of use.
 
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