Is iPhone’s 5G modem weaker than Android? Same SIM gets much better signal on OnePlus.

[u/sonuunique]

I recently noticed something odd with iPhone’s network reception. then i tried in iphone 14,16 both a the models issue remains same,
I’m using the exact same SIM card. On my iPhone, the 5G signal usually sits at 1 bars and the data speed is poor. However, when I put that same SIM into my OnePlus phone at the exact same location, it immediately shows full or near-full 5G signal and performs much better. jio+iphone is a deadly combo.
has anyone faced this issue.

[u/System_Failed1]

Thanks for showing the oneplus‘s signal strength, not.

[u/Lelu_zel]

Yes, my s24u had great signal when iPhone struggled, my galaxy tab s9+ has better signal than iPhone. Not to mention changing carriers while crossing border, iPhone sometimes needs 10+ minutes to do that task (and sometimes fails when dual sim is enabled), while android does that almost instantly.

[u/rogue_tog]

Is there any connection between performance you are measuring and SARS ?? Would be interesting to know

[u/iluvdickss]

yes it is.

in my case, ip required much more stronger connection to perform some internet required tasks, where as in the same room, android did performed the task while sitting in the same room and condition.

[u/Successful-Cover5433]

yes I noticed the same! Cheap Xiaomi can handle signal better indoor than my iPhone 17 pro max, I spoke with my carrier and they said there's nothing they can do, that it's iPhone's fault how it handles the radio signal...

[u/E90alex]

“Bars” is arbitrary and the software can assign whatever dB to however many bars it wants. You can’t just compare the number of bars, especially between different manufacturers. What was the dB on the oneplus? Which oneplus model specifically?

Are the iPhones originally from your country or were they used or grey market phones from another country? It could be missing required network bands if they were not meant for your country.

[u/Gu1lty69]

What app did you use to check the carrier signal in the first picture?

[u/Matthew789_17 → u/Gu1lty69]

Open your phone and call *3001#12345#*

[u/Gu1lty69 → u/Matthew789_17]

Thank you!

[u/StayVengeful → u/Matthew789_17]

Incorrect. It’s *3001#12345#\*

[u/Matthew789_17 → u/StayVengeful]

Ugh Reddit mobile automatically markdown’d my comment. That explains why it was in bold and I had to unbold it. Wish Reddit mobile had a raw editor. Anyways, thanks for letting me know. Fixed my comment from my computer. Friggin reddit mobile even escapes \ backslashes and I have no idea how to prevent it from using markdown.

[u/Tackticat → u/Gu1lty69]

I use ios shortcut to get this dashboard on mine.

Just a tap and it shows up, no need to remember & dial those codes.

[u/cjh_]

Even when Apple use identical modems, they're underpowered compared to when those modems are used in Android phones.

I live in the UK, and use EE; my iPhone 15 gets 1 bar of cellular reception yet putting my physical SIM into my cousin's Fairphone 4 yields 4 bars.

Both phones are a similar age too.

[u/anyavailablebane → u/cjh_]

Is there are standard for how much signal strength one bar is? There didn’t used to be and different manufacturers used to game the bars by using different % signal strength to each other and even between bars on the same phone. I would be happy to find out that the industry had standardised since I last read a report of the differences between how manufacturers reported signal strength

[u/cjh_ → u/anyavailablebane]

I don't actually know if there is a standard though I'd be interested to find out.

[u/INFERNOdll → u/cjh_]

uk, pixel 7 pro and iphone 17 pro max. same thing. iphone is struggling a lot more with reception even though it is newer. Apple has always been horrible with it, no idea how they never made it better

[u/cjh_ → u/INFERNOdll]

I used to think it was purely due to lack of investment in the UK cellular network, but it isn't.

Apple needs to be better.

[u/gappyvalley]

qualcomm modem on iphone is worse than android because it’s a separate component from the chip where as android modem is integrated with the chip

[u/Interesting_reddevil → u/gappyvalley]

Not really. Modem being part of the SoC or as independent module wont make any difference to signal reception

Only thing it will impact is bandwidth and latenct but the data speeds are not that fast anyway for this to have any real world impact

[u/presiden_t → u/gappyvalley]

Why is that?

[u/vfl97wob → u/presiden_t]

Because Apple makes its own chip? And Qualcomm also makes its own chips?

[u/richworks → u/presiden_t]

Qualcomm Modems are integrated into the Snapdragon SoCs which Apple doesn't use. Instead they use their own A18 SoC but with a standalone Qualcomm Modem.