The iPhone 16e’s 5G performance seemingly has the iPhone 16’s beat

• The iPhone 16e’s 5G modem has outperformed the iPhone 16’s in some tests
• Its lack of mmWave support might be the only thing holding it back
• This bodes well for future iPhones and future versions of this modem

One interesting aspect of the iPhone 16e is that it uses Apple’s C1 modem. This is Apple’s first in-house 5G modem, and so far the iPhone 16e is the only device you’ll find it in.

With this being a cheaper phone than the rest of the iPhone 16 series you might expect the C1 to trail the Qualcomm modem used in those, but in fact tests suggest the C1 might offer better performance in most situations.

Ookla (via 9to5Mac) has collected data from iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e users in the US, and found that the iPhone 16e offers 10^th percentile download speeds of 27.35Mbps, compared to 16.66Mbps on the iPhone 16. Those are essentially the speeds that the users experiencing the lowest performance on either phone can expect.

For median download speeds the iPhone 16e also comes out on top, at 217.64Mbps compared to 210.55Mbps on the iPhone 16. However, at the top end the iPhone 16 takes the win, with 90^th percentile download speeds of 756.13Mbps, compared to 560.4Mbps on the iPhone 16e.

Notably though those upper speeds could be skewed by the fact that the iPhone 16e doesn’t support faster mmWave 5G, while Ookla suspects future versions of the C1 modem will support this.

Just as good for uploads

The iPhone 16e and its C1 modem are similarly impressive when looking at median upload speeds, having the iPhone 16 comfortably beat across all three tested carriers (T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T).

This all is good news for Apple, since it suggests the company could switch to its in-house modem across all new iPhones without sacrificing speeds, and it’s all the more impressive as Apple claims the C1 is also more efficient than other iPhone modems, meaning it shouldn’t impact battery life as much.

It does put the iPhone 16e in the unusual position of actually having an advantage over Apple’s top models – other than its lack of mmWave support – but that’s one more reason to buy this phone, and looking ahead, it’s a promising sign for future iPhones, especially since the next generation of this modem might be even better.