A new report shows Android phones equipped with Cellular Qualcomm Modems above the iPhone 16th with its own Apple C1 modem. Unfortunately, the limited nature of the tests, combined with the fact that it was ordered by Qualcomm, means that we cannot learn a lot.
The tests have been carried out by Cellular Insights, and you can read the summary here or the full report here. The general summary of the results is that Android devices had download speeds around 35% faster than the iPhone 16th, and download speeds between 81% and 91% faster.
The fact that the report was paid by Qualcomm, of course, makes him suspect, but there are other limits to note.
First, the report does not let us know which Android phones have been tested. He indicates that one is “a flagship device 2025 powered by the Modem-RF Snapdragon X80 5G system at the price of $ 799” and the other is “a flagship 2024 device powered by Snapdragon X75 5G MODEM-RF at the price of $ 619”. This narrows it somewhat, but it is strange that the iPhone 16th is named (the only device with an Apple C1 modem after all) and Android devices are kept somewhat secret.
Second, the tests all took place in only three places in a single small geographic area: the Astoria district in Queens, New York. Even our own tests, which we noted were quite limited, managed to test five locations in the large region of Sacramento. Finally, the study used exclusively the sales network of T-Mobile salesperson. As with our own tests, which only took place on the Verizon network, looking at a single carrier (especially in a single district) captures only a very limited experience.
A more extensive set of tests comes from Ookla, whose report in March used the data of many users across the country by testing with its popular Speedtest application. This report captured the experience on the three main operators, and interesting, the gap between the iPhone 16 (using a Qualcomm modem) and the iPhone 16th (with the Apple C1) was the widest, you guessed it, the T-Mobile network.
So this test seems slightly suspect. Not only is he paid by Qualcomm, but he offers the iphone 16th of $ 599 against nameless Android phones, in only three locations in a single district, on the carrier in which the Qualcomm modems only surpass by the widest margin. And it only tests download and download speeds, no other aspects such as stability when passing inside and between cellular areas, latency or power use. None of this means that the report is false, but it gives the appearance of cherry selection tests to obtain the results you want.
In the end, there is nothing to note here. Modem C1 has never been supposed to surpass the best Qualcomm modems, only to offer an experience comparable to intermediate level products with good stability and lower use. Future Apple modems (C2 and C3, probably) should increase performance with each generation, ultimately in order to beat the best quality offers in 2026 or 2027.
