Ookla’s latest cellular speed test shows that Apple’s first in-house 5G modem holds its own against Qualcomm. The company found the iPhone 16e, powered by Apple’s custom C1 modem, performs similarly to the iPhone 16 with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X71 modem across most markets.
The report highlights that performance depends heavily on carrier and country. In the U.S., Ookla measured a median 5G download speed of 317 Mbps on T-Mobile’s network for the iPhone 16, compared to 252 Mbps on the iPhone 16e. In Spain, the trend reversed. The iPhone 16e recorded 139 Mbps, topping the iPhone 16 at 110 Mbps.
Market-by-Market Differences
According to Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence data, the iPhone 16 showed its largest advantage in Saudi Arabia, reaching a median of 353 Mbps compared to the iPhone 16e’s 295 Mbps. Networks in China, India, and the U.S. also gave Qualcomm’s modem an edge due to stronger support for features like four-carrier aggregation and uplink MIMO. By contrast, the iPhone 16e, limited to three-carrier aggregation, cannot fully match performance on those advanced networks.
In the U.S., Ookla’s controlled testing with RootMetrics during the first half of 2025 confirmed that T-Mobile’s four-carrier aggregation supported the iPhone 16 more effectively. It used that capability across 65.4 percent of locations tested, which gave the Qualcomm-powered device a clear advantage.
Still, the iPhone 16e’s results show resilience. Ookla noted that in several markets, including Spain, the Apple modem actually outperformed Qualcomm’s, suggesting that some networks remain bottlenecked and cannot yet take advantage of Qualcomm’s higher technical ceiling.
Beyond median download speeds, the iPhone 16e performed well in other categories. Ookla found the C1 modem often delivered better speeds at the 10th percentile, where users typically face weaker coverage. It also tended to record stronger upload speeds across multiple percentiles, signaling that Apple optimized the C1 for stability in marginal conditions.
These findings reinforce Ookla’s March analysis and arrive just ahead of Apple’s Sept. 9 event, where the company is expected to debut the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air. Reports suggest that device will also ship with the C1 modem, making its performance a central question for buyers.
