The C1 5G modem on the iPhone 16e is 40% faster than the Snapdragon X71 on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, despite not supporting mmWave

Apple may have cut some features on the iPhone 16e to give customers a more competitive price. For example, the C1 5G modem on the iPhone 16e does not support mmWave at all. However, this may not be too big of a problem because according to the latest reviews, Apple's newly launched $599 phone still meets most of the criteria of a high-end flagship.

Apple’s in-house 5G C1 modem will certainly be the talk of the town in the coming weeks, but the big question remains whether Apple’s latest solution can outperform the Snapdragon X71 currently found in the iPhone 16 series.

A tech YouTuber nicknamed Dave2D conducted a basic speed comparison test between the C1 modem on the iPhone 16e and the Snapdragon X71 equipped on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The results were quite surprising, the C1 modem can achieve 40% higher download speeds than the modem on the high-end iPhone 16 Pro Max. When running Ookla Speedtest, the iPhone 16e easily surpassed the 200Mbps threshold, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max was clearly left behind, making the performance of the more expensive flagship less impressive.

It's worth noting that both devices are likely connected to sub-6GHz networks, but if the test were to be repeated on a mmWave node, the iPhone 16 Pro Max would definitely be the winner.

Another aspect to note is that the test was conducted in Toronto, Canada, where there is a high density of cell towers operating on a particular frequency. Since the YouTuber lives in a developed area, the improved download speeds from the C1 modem may indicate that performance depends on where you live. It is possible that in a country where 5G networks have been deployed but reception is inconsistent, the iPhone 16e will perform worse than the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Of course, we need to wait for more tests before drawing a final conclusion, but at least in the Speedtest test, the C1 modem showed superiority.