Apple latest iPhone XS and XS Max beat their predecessor i.e. iPhone X in an LTE speed test, but are not quite as fast as the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Apple has used Intel XMM 7560 inside its latest iPhones while the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 features X20 model.
The data for the LTE speed of these new devices has been obtained from Cellular Insights and Ookla. Cellular Insights has conducted these test by comparing iPhone XS Max with iPhone X, Galaxy Note 9, and Google Pixel 2 on a Band 4 channel which is used by several major Canadian carriers including Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. The download speed tests have been conducted at full strength and a lower signal to find out the overall comparative performance.
According to the data, iPhone XS Max provided doubled the speeds of an iPhone X in situations where there were strong signals. New antennas of iPhone XS Max also helped it to perform better in weak signal situations. However, the Galaxy Note 9 and Pixel 2 outperformed iPhone XS Max, but the difference gets slimmer as the signal gets weaker.
The real world data collected by Ookla also reveal similar results. On all the U.S carriers, the iPhone XS offers 6.6Mb/s faster downloads and on Canadian carriers, it performed even better with a 20,2MB/s speed boost.
In the United States, iPhone XS is seeing a big boost over AT&T network, while the margin is slim on Sprint and Verizon. It is worth noting that Apple is using Qualcomm modems inside Verizon and Sprint iPhone X models and the AT&T and T-Mobile variants featured Intel modems.
iPhone XS lost to Galaxy Note 9 in both the US and the Canadian regions. The iPhone XS Max offered a mean download speed of 38.9Mb/s, while the Galaxy Note 9 hit a 43.2Mb/s mean download speed. Ookla collected this data during the week of September.
Despite having more antenna bands and showing better results in these tests, many iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max users have been reporting LTE connectivity related issues with their brand new devices. Some believe that the LTE connectivity issue is due to the firmware on these new devices. So, one can expect a fix in future updates.