Apple's New iPhones Have Very Exciting... Modems? Yep

The Great Divide is over. For the first time in years, we expect that all new iPhones announced today will work on all four US carriers thanks to the new Intel XMM7560 modem.

For the past few years, AT&T and T-Mobile iPhones haven't worked on Sprint and Verizon. That's because Apple has split its modem order between Intel and Qualcomm, and the Intel units didn't have CDMA voice for Sprint and Verizon.

This year is the first year Intel can deliver a modem solution that works on all four US carriers, including the legacy CDMA systems used by Sprint and Verizon.

The XMM7560 brings more than just broader compatibility. Previous Intel products haven't been as good as the Qualcomm ones, and Apple has turned off some of the Qualcomm devices' more advanced features—perhaps to match the limited capabilities of the Intel modems. Our exclusive testing showed the gap between the Intel and Qualcomm devices' performance.

Intel's XMM7560, debuting publicly in the 2018 iPhones, matches up well with the capabilities of US carriers this year. The 7560 supports:

• 4x4 MIMO antennas

• 5x carrier aggregation in up to 4 bands

• Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) acceleration

Last year's iPhone models didn't have these three features. The most notable change is the addition of 4x4 MIMO receiver diversity, which will improve not only speeds, but coverage and the ability to quickly recover from dead zones. It's a big deal, and one we've been waiting to see on iPhones for two years now.

LAA is a new technology that US carriers are installing in crowded urban centers to boost speeds and capacity. It has a very short range, relying on 5GHz unlicensed spectrum (the same as Wi-Fi), so the jury's still out on whether it can viably become widespread. When we tested it in New York and Chicago, we got speeds over 500Mbps.

Recommended by Our Editors

When Is the 5G iPhone Coming?

The Apple Event Isn't Really About the iPhone

How to Watch Apple's iPhone Event

5x carrier aggregation across four bands lets carriers use their fragmented spectrum resources better and could improve speeds.

I'm curious as to whether we'll see similar performance between the XMM7560 and Qualcomm's current X20 modem, the one in the Samsung Galaxy S9 and LG G7 ($119.99 at Amazon) . While the X20 has even more advanced features, with top speeds of 1.2Gbps, US carriers aren't currently taking advantage of those top speeds because of limited spectrum.

Also, in the past, Qualcomm's other components—like antenna tuners—have made a difference in terms of capturing weak cellular signals. That's just going to have to be something we test.

1 Cool Thing: Samsung Galaxy Note 9