The initial impressions and reviews of the iPhone 16e are out. And it turns out, the Apple C1 modem is absolutely fine.
Apple’s C1 Modem Performs as Good as Qualcomm on a Sub-6GHz 5G Network in Daily Use
When Apple announced the iPhone 16e and C1, majority of the people were quite sure the new modem would not hold up against the Qualcomm one found in other iPhones.
In fact, someone even said the iPhone 16e will run on EDGE most of the time. I have no clue where they got that idea from. But hey, it was an initial reaction.
Remember when the M1 was announced and everyone was quite sure Apple would go crawling back to Intel? Kinda like that moment, but for an Apple-designed modem.
However, now that the initial impressions videos are out, and we get a glimpse into the iPhone 16e, it turns out the 5G modem is absolutely fine and in some cases performs better than the iPhone 16.
When tested on a sub-6GHz 5G network, the performance is comparable to Qualcomm in most cases. Not every speed test is going to be the same either, since traffic on a cellular tower keeps changing too.
The thing that’s important here is simple: both modems fall in the same performance ballpark. But the C1 does better when it comes to efficiency, and some videos point that out as well.
Unlike Wi-Fi, you can completely isolate a device and do tests. But for cellular, it’s as real-world as it gets, and the iPhone 16e performs like any other iPhone.
Sure, the device doesn’t support mmWave 5G. But at this price, do you expect it to have it? Apple doesn’t even ship its most expensive iPad Pro with mmWave 5G. Where was the noise when that happened?
Just know that the C1 modem is absolutely fine for daily use. That’s all.
