Apple's iPhone 16e, featuring the company's first in-house C1 cellular modem, has been found to lag behind Qualcomm modems in speed and connectivity tests. A Qualcomm-commissioned study compared the iPhone 16e to Android phones with Snapdragon X75 and X80 modems, revealing significantly faster download and upload speeds on the Android devices. While Apple touted the C1 for improved energy efficiency, the results suggest Qualcomm maintains a lead in modem performance, although the study's potential bias should be considered.

Prepared by Jonathan Pierce and reviewed by editorial team.