The controversy about what’s causing these issues and how many XS/Max units are affected continues unresolved on these threads, and similar ones at other forums.
None of us can sure if the problems are due to a hardware issue (like poor antenna design) or a software issue that Apple will be able to fix with a patch.
The analysis from wiwavelength suggests it’s a faulty antenna design (and, he argues, not at all due to the use of Intel modems instead of Qualcomm), if I’m interpreting his blog posts correctly. That would mean every single XS/Max unit can have these connectivity issues. Wiwavelength might be correct. But nobody knows his credentials, and his findings haven't been independently replicated/corroborated.
This doesn’t mean he’s wrong and the hundreds of highly credentialed Apple engineers who designed the new iPhones are right. But until I see corroborating evidence, I can’t accept the conclusion that the new iPhones (by which I mean the XS series) have a faulty antenna design.
Another possibility is that the problem is affecting only a tiny percentage of XS and Max units. This seems the most plausible to me. Here’s why:
Apple sold around 9 million XS and XS Max units in the first week they were available (based on estimates published by Flurry Analytics GM Peter Farago about two weeks ago). And surely a million or more in the following weeks. How many people are having problems? I don’t know if it’s possible to count the number of people who have reported problems on Macrumors, Reddit, Apple forums, etc, but let’s suppose it’s 10,000.
10,000 is one-tenth of one percent of the 10 million XS/Max units that Apple has likely sold.
What about the other 99.9%? Probably some of those phones are having similar problems but their owners haven’t discovered those problems yet--maybe because they live in areas with excellent coverage, or maybe because when a signal is dropped they assume it’s due to some reason other than their phone being defective.
So, the number of people posting about their issues surely under-represents the total.
But is it possible that ALL XS and Max units are having issues (due to a bad antenna design)? That seems extremely unlikely. If that were true, then these issues would be much bigger news and Apple’s stock price would be dropping as investors fear the costs of replacing about 10 million phones (that are priced over $1000 each - that's over $1 billion).
Another reason it’s unlikely that a majority of the XS and Max units are defective is that there have been dozens of reviews of these new iPhones in professional publications and sites (like CNET, The Verge, Consumer Reports, New York Times, etc) and virtually none of them have mentioned the issue. Some of you have correctly pointed out that many of these reviewers are under pressure to write positive reviews. But if there were a widespread problem due to a design defect, would every single one of these reviewers stay quiet about it? It would be major news if the $1 billion or so worth of new Apple phones had a defect due to poor antenna design. Surely some news outlet would jump on the story. But that hasn't happened (other than the Forbes columnist who is always writing biased stories about iPhones or iOS updates, the troll who cried wolf).
I think the most likely explanation is that a tiny percentage of units are affected, and the cause is either a hardware defect (not defective design), a software issue, or both.
But I am not certain of this. If true, then the likelihood of getting two bad units in a row would be very, very tiny, and yet a number of us have had our XS/Max units replaced with another one that was nearly or equally as bad. (And poor ROLLTIDE got three bad units in a row.)
Bottom line, nobody knows the truth, the best we can do is look at the different possibilities and think about which of them is the most or least plausible.
Meanwhile, what to do if you have a phone experiencing issues?
Until someone starts a class action lawsuit, I think the best thing we can do is take it back and get a replacement. This gives Apple an incentive to bust their asses to figure out the problem and issue a solution if they can, because they’re losing money every time someone returns their phone. And more importantly for you in the short term, there’s a very good chance your replacement unit will be fine. It might not be, as some unfortunate souls here can tell you. But many of us who’ve replaced our XS or Max units now have one that’s working perfectly, or at least much better.
Also, don’t forget that a number of people who own X or 8/8+ have said they’ve been having similar issues, either now (since installing iOS 12) or in the first weeks following their purchase last year.
I’m confident Apple will improve or completely fix the issue with software updates or will replace units people are having problems with - but those people have to initiate the replacement. Apple is not going to send 10 million letters to new XS/Max owners inviting them to bring their phone in for a replacement.
None of us can sure if the problems are due to a hardware issue (like poor antenna design) or a software issue that Apple will be able to fix with a patch.
The analysis from wiwavelength suggests it’s a faulty antenna design (and, he argues, not at all due to the use of Intel modems instead of Qualcomm), if I’m interpreting his blog posts correctly. That would mean every single XS/Max unit can have these connectivity issues. Wiwavelength might be correct. But nobody knows his credentials, and his findings haven't been independently replicated/corroborated.
This doesn’t mean he’s wrong and the hundreds of highly credentialed Apple engineers who designed the new iPhones are right. But until I see corroborating evidence, I can’t accept the conclusion that the new iPhones (by which I mean the XS series) have a faulty antenna design.
Another possibility is that the problem is affecting only a tiny percentage of XS and Max units. This seems the most plausible to me. Here’s why:
Apple sold around 9 million XS and XS Max units in the first week they were available (based on estimates published by Flurry Analytics GM Peter Farago about two weeks ago). And surely a million or more in the following weeks. How many people are having problems? I don’t know if it’s possible to count the number of people who have reported problems on Macrumors, Reddit, Apple forums, etc, but let’s suppose it’s 10,000.
10,000 is one-tenth of one percent of the 10 million XS/Max units that Apple has likely sold.
What about the other 99.9%? Probably some of those phones are having similar problems but their owners haven’t discovered those problems yet--maybe because they live in areas with excellent coverage, or maybe because when a signal is dropped they assume it’s due to some reason other than their phone being defective.
So, the number of people posting about their issues surely under-represents the total.
But is it possible that ALL XS and Max units are having issues (due to a bad antenna design)? That seems extremely unlikely. If that were true, then these issues would be much bigger news and Apple’s stock price would be dropping as investors fear the costs of replacing about 10 million phones (that are priced over $1000 each - that's over $1 billion).
Another reason it’s unlikely that a majority of the XS and Max units are defective is that there have been dozens of reviews of these new iPhones in professional publications and sites (like CNET, The Verge, Consumer Reports, New York Times, etc) and virtually none of them have mentioned the issue. Some of you have correctly pointed out that many of these reviewers are under pressure to write positive reviews. But if there were a widespread problem due to a design defect, would every single one of these reviewers stay quiet about it? It would be major news if the $1 billion or so worth of new Apple phones had a defect due to poor antenna design. Surely some news outlet would jump on the story. But that hasn't happened (other than the Forbes columnist who is always writing biased stories about iPhones or iOS updates, the troll who cried wolf).
I think the most likely explanation is that a tiny percentage of units are affected, and the cause is either a hardware defect (not defective design), a software issue, or both.
But I am not certain of this. If true, then the likelihood of getting two bad units in a row would be very, very tiny, and yet a number of us have had our XS/Max units replaced with another one that was nearly or equally as bad. (And poor ROLLTIDE got three bad units in a row.)
Bottom line, nobody knows the truth, the best we can do is look at the different possibilities and think about which of them is the most or least plausible.
Meanwhile, what to do if you have a phone experiencing issues?
Until someone starts a class action lawsuit, I think the best thing we can do is take it back and get a replacement. This gives Apple an incentive to bust their asses to figure out the problem and issue a solution if they can, because they’re losing money every time someone returns their phone. And more importantly for you in the short term, there’s a very good chance your replacement unit will be fine. It might not be, as some unfortunate souls here can tell you. But many of us who’ve replaced our XS or Max units now have one that’s working perfectly, or at least much better.
Also, don’t forget that a number of people who own X or 8/8+ have said they’ve been having similar issues, either now (since installing iOS 12) or in the first weeks following their purchase last year.
I’m confident Apple will improve or completely fix the issue with software updates or will replace units people are having problems with - but those people have to initiate the replacement. Apple is not going to send 10 million letters to new XS/Max owners inviting them to bring their phone in for a replacement.
