If you really want to squeeze every bit of your LTE broadband connectivity, you may want to ditch your old iPhone and get an iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max. These phones truly destroy the iPhone X when it comes to download at maximum speed in AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon’s networks.
According to this test by network speed probing site SpeedSmart.net, the iPhone XS new “Gigabit LTE” — as Apple calls it — internet connectivity is much, much faster than the previous generation. Like, mindblowingly so: nearly three times faster downloads on AT&T, more than double on Verizon, and almost double the speed on T-Mobile. The upload bandwidth gains are more modest, but still considerable.
The new phones, which were touted by Apple’s Phil Schiller as having the fastest LTE connectivity of any iPhone to date, can download at 72.24 megabits per second on the AT&T network — the fastest download speed overall —compared to the previous 27.67 Mbps.
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For uploads, the Xs on AT&T now gets 14.88 Mbps vs the 10.28 Mbps of the previous model.The download speed bump on Verizon is 62.20 Mbps for the XS vs 26.08 Mbps for the X, with a notable 5.18 Mbps increase in the uploads — 16.10 Mbps vs 10.92 Mbps.
On T-Mobile, the increase was much less, in part because the iPhone X already had the fastest connectivity in that network: 29.82Mbps. Now, the iPhone XS will get you 59.92Mbps. The upload speeds went from 12.22Mbps to 29.82Mbps, the fastest on any network.
Our own testing showed similar results using the Speedtest.net app: “downloads reached as high as 103 Mbps on the iPhone Xs and 96.9 Mbps on the iPhone Xs Max [...] By comparison, the older iPhone X averaged just 15.5 Mbps down and under 6 Mbps uploads.”
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The reason for these speed bumps is not only the new modem with LAA support — which can make use of unlicensed radio spectrum in the 5 GHz band — but a 4x4 MIMO antenna that allows the iPhone Xs to quadruple the the number of internet data signals over four different aerials. In theory, Apple’s new LTE connectivity will also help in getting a stable connection in areas with spotty coverage.
Clearly, if you care about getting those streaming series without a single hiccup, you will want to get the iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max.
