This is why T-Mobile subscribers should buy the iPhone 16 instead of the iPhone 16e
After approximately three weeks, we can determine whether Apple's new in-house C1 5G modem, found in the lower-priced iPhone 16e, outperforms the Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 5G modem that the base iPhone 16 model is equipped with. Both phones are powered by the 3nm A18 application processor and carry 8GB of RAM. It should be noted that the Apple C1 doesn't support the fastest mmWave 5G signals like the Snapdragon modem does; still, in the U.S. you're more likely to run into Bigfoot than a mmWave network.
If you've owned a phone for years, you're familiar with Ookla which is the developer behind the Speedtest by Ookla app. Old timers like myself would always make the app one of the first we'd install on a new phone. Ookla recently ran some numbers comparing the performance of the iPhone 16e vs. the iPhone 16. As a result, we can get an early look at how Apple's C1 5G modem compares with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 5G modem used on the iPhone 16. It should be noted that the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max units feature the more capable Snapdragon X75 5G modem.
iPhone 16e has faster download speeds than the iPhone 16 on AT&T, Verizon. | Image credit-Ookla
Whether the iPhone 16e or the iPhone 16 is faster might depend on the carrier you are subscribed to. For example, iPhone 16e users on AT&T and Verizon had faster median download and upload data speeds than iPhone 16 users. The iPhone 16 had faster median download data speeds on the T-Mobile network.
iPhone 16e has faster upload speeds than the iPhone 16 on ATT, Verizon, and T-Mobile. | Image credit-Ookla
When looking at speeds in the 90th percentile, which Ookla calls top-end performance, the iPhone 16 outperformed the iPhone 16e on all three major U.S. carriers with a median download data speed of 756.13 Mbps. The download data speed of the iPhone 16e was 560.4 Mbps. At the 10th percentile, which Ookla calls the "Worst-case speeds," the iPhone 16e (27.35 Mbps) topped the iPhone 16 (16.66 Mbps).
Another interesting comparison reveals that the iPhone 16e, despite not supporting mmWave, was faster than the iPhone 16 (which does support mmWave) on AT&T and Verizon. Yet, on T-Mobile's Standalone (SA) 5G network, the iPhone 16 was much faster than the iPhone 16e. The C1 modem on the iPhone 16e appears to have underperformed on T-Mobile's SA 5G network because the carrier employs advanced tools such as Carrier Aggregation. The latter combines multiple frequency bands into a single wider channel allowing it to support more capacity and faster speeds by helping devices receive and transmit more data at the same time.
The bottom line is that unless you're using T-Mobile, you should experience faster download and upload speeds with the iPhone 16e using Apple's C1 5G modem. T-Mobile subscribers will get better performance from the iPhone 16 sporting the Snapdragon X70 5G modem.
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