Exclusive: Pixel 2, Galaxy Note 8 Beat iPhone on LTE

The Google Pixel two and Samsung Galaxy Note eight shell the iPhone Ten's functioning on the most common LTE band in Northward America, according to new test data from Cellular Insights given exclusively to PCMag.

The Pixel 2 is tuned to become upwards to 36 percent ameliorate download speeds using the same ring, aqueduct size, and number of antennas than the all-time iPhone X model, the tests found. With their full complement of antennas turned on, the Pixel 2, Note eight, and LG V30 can get double the speeds per channel compared to the iPhone.

Speed Advantage of Pixel 2 over iPhone X

We asked Cellular Insights to examination these phones because they all utilize Qualcomm's latest X16 "gigabit" modem. That's the all-time modem out there, but the results showed that phone makers' design choices tin still make a huge difference.

Co-ordinate to its report, "Because of the added antenna diverseness, devices with 4-branch antenna pattern perform better than the devices with 2 antennas in all situations, including the areas of coverage where 4x4 MIMO isn't supported. Added diversity aids in extracting and processing a cleaner point which reduces retransmission, improves spectral efficiency of the network and overall user feel."

To compare the phones on an apples-to-Apples footing, Cellular Insights looked at performance using 1 20MHz channel of Band 4, in 2x2 MIMO mode. That means the phone is using 2 upload and 2 download antenna branches. Different US carriers cobble together spectrum in unlike ways, and some back up 4x4 MIMO in various cities. But 2x2 MIMO is a commonly used transmission method for US networks. The tests used LTE Band four, which is used by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and the major Canadian wireless carriers, and attenuated an LTE indicate from a stiff -85dBm until the modems showed no performance.

Qualcomm Beats Intel; Android Beats Apple tree

In that location are two primary models of the iPhone X, which employ Qualcomm and Intel modems. The Qualcomm-powered 1 performs better, as an earlier Cellular Insights examination showed.

Throwing the Android phones into the mix, the phones' modem quality was in a consequent order, until you got to very weak signals. The Pixel 2 was the fastest, followed by the Note 8, the V30, the Qualcomm-based iPhone, and finally the Intel iPhone.

Chart - LTE Band 4 Download Performance Of Leading Smartphones

The V30 and Note 8 performed very well in extremely depression indicate conditions with 2x2 MIMO, squeezing a tiny chip of bandwidth out of declining connections. (One affair you tin't see on the chart below is that the Intel iPhone's line merges with the Pixel 2'south line at -128, only at that point everyone's performance is very weak.)

Chart - LTE Band 4 Download Performance

The differences between Android phones and the iPhone become much greater when y'all turn on 4x4 MIMO. (The nautical chart at the tiptop of this story shows those differences.) By doubling the use of transmit and receive antennas, 4x4 MIMO doubles potential speeds on an LTE channel. The Note 8, Pixel two and LG V30 all support 4x4 MIMO on band 4. Apple iPhones exercise not, perchance because the Intel modem Apple used this twelvemonth doesn't support the feature. The Pixel two performed best of the group in weak signal weather condition using 4x4 MIMO.

Chart - LTE Band 4 Download Performance Of Leading Smartphones, 4x4 MIMO

Chart - LTE Band 4 Download Performance Of Leading Smartphones, 4x4 MIMO, Low Signal

Cellular Insights besides looked at an international unit of the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, which nosotros had high hopes for considering it'southward the showtime LTE Category eighteen modem nosotros've seen, capable of 1.2Gbps speeds. Just the lesson we learned was just not to use international models in the US. The Mate 10 Pro showed the poorest performance of whatsoever of the exam devices, which we chalk up to its non being tuned for the U.s.a.'s Band 4.

Did Apple Practise This on Purpose?

The Cellular Insights tests didn't reveal conclusively whether Apple is turning downwardly its Qualcomm modem performance to try to match the weaker Intel modem on purpose. While some industry sources take told me this is the case, the LG V30 performed similarly enough to the iPhone that Apple may merely non exist all that great with Band 4.

Rhode & Schwarz Unit The Android phones had other advantages over the iPhone that didn't show upwards in the pure speed tests. Both the V30 and Note viii support LAA, or Licensed Assisted Access, a new method of transmitting LTE that the carriers are starting to roll out. And the V30 supports T-Mobile's new Band 71, which that carrier is starting to roll out for additional rural coverage.

Rohde & Schwarz, the global leader in test and measurement equipment, provided Cellular Insights with the cutting-edge CMWFlexx solution (pictured) consisting of two CMW500 Wideband Communication Tester boxes, CMWC Controller, and R&Due south TS7124 RF shielded box equipped with four Vivaldi antennas for up to four×iv MIMO, ensuring loftier reproducibility of near-field OTA MIMO measurements. The written report was done independently by Cellular Insights and shared with PCMag.

The two iPhone X units were running iOS 11.1.2. Cellular Insights' methodology was the aforementioned every bit last year'due south, which you lot tin can read in its 2022 study.