Anyone else with an iPhone 16 Pro Max have weaker signal strength? I’m coming from an iPhone 14 Pro Max and it seems like the phone has 1-2 bars worse signal strength on Verizon.
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iPhone 16 Pro Max Signal Strength
- Thread starter D1rty-max
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I live in a house with 1-2 bars of LTE signal and nothing has changed much here for me. However I did notice more drops on my weaker 5G WiFi network in my recliner where I usually sit inside my home. With drops I’m referring to the WiFi symbol not being present and just showing LTE. However that could also be a bug in iOS 18 for me.
I haven't noticed a change in reception yet for my 16 Pro but of course I haven't had it long. I watched an iFixit teardown where the presenter determined that apparently Apple eliminated a mmwave antenna and repositioned another which he felt might impair reception. Since cellular reception is core functionality for a smartphone this is disappointing if true. Anyway, something to keep an eye on.
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I came here to see if anyone else is seeing the same. My daughter has the iPhone 15 Pro and I have the 16 Pro Max, in some areas I’m seeing worse reception (I had 1 bar of LTE while she had 2 bars of 5G). However in another area I was able to get 5G UW (with some random drops down to LTE) while she could only get 5G. Seems inconsistent.
I live in a fringe area and see no “bars” improvement at all. Same as before as I can tell.
I’m seeing inconsistency all over the place. I’m jumping from LTE to 5G to 5GUW. This is all in one location. Just now typing this I’ve gone from 3 bars to 1 and back to 2 of 5G.
This is really a shame. I have been debating updating my 12 due to a better cell radio, but sounds like a used 14 or 15 might be better in that regard…
My wife and I just upgraded from a 13 Pro Max to the 16 Pro Max and our cellular reception has gone from tolerable to abysmal! I'm not sure if it's related to AT&T's horrible cellular coverage in the St. Louis area or a design change to the 16 Pro Max. Either way it feels like strong cellular coverage is just a dream for me.
I'm on Verizon. I actually returned a new 16 Pro because it had much worse reception than my 14 Pro for voice calls in certain areas. I often go for a walk and talk to my family on the phone in an area absolutely saturated with antennas on one of the highest areas in a large California city. Calls would connect but voice quality was shockingly bad. Constant dropouts and poor voice quality in both directions. On the 14 Pro I either see 4 bars of LTE or 5G. On the 16 Pro I would see 1 bar of LTE.
I've seen conflicting stories on the 16 Pro. It's not clear if the mmWave antenna has been removed, relocated, or is somehow integrated into the titanium frame (versus 15 Pro and 14 Pro). I hope they work this out (either Verizon or Apple).
