iPhone XS Max Is the mobile reception on the xs Max even worse than iPhone X ?

[kneezmo]

Well I caved and bought the X at Best Buy. Keeping my fingers crossed that this one works for me. What’s also interesting is that I had a call and voice mail from yesterday that showed on the X, but had never come through at all on the Max.

haha, all will be fine man im pretty sure you will be happy now. Tell us what are your feelings with this phone
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I just picked up an XS Max on Wednesday. I haven't even opened the box. It was a hard decision on the X or XS Max. I only have tonight and tomorrow to really decide on this XS Max. I'm flying up again to Portland one more time tomorrow for work, so I still have time to make a lateral exchange to an X should I decide. I'm just trying to save myself $100 in taxes (which I may apply towards AirPods) when I fly there again tomorrow.
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What do you suggest I should be testing to determine whether the antenna is good or is a pass?

You can use, for a day or 2 days.. and test. have time to return and get an X if you think that something is wrong with this

 

[rotobadger]

Well I caved and bought the X at Best Buy. Keeping my fingers crossed that this one works for me. What’s also interesting is that I had a call and voice mail from yesterday that showed on the X, but had never come through at all on the Max.

I did the same last week. I freaking love the X and am glad I decided to go with it instead of the XS. I truly hope the issues get sorted for those people who have the XS though. Wouldn’t wish this headache on anyone.

To those contemplating the X instead of the XS: Do it. This is the best iPhone I’ve ever owned and I’ve had them all since the first one in 2007.

 

[Nhwhazup]

I did the same last week. I freaking love the X and am glad I decided to go with it instead of the XS. I truly hope the issues get sorted for those people who have the XS though. Wouldn’t wish this headache on anyone.

To those contemplating the X instead of the XS: Do it. This is the best iPhone I’ve ever owned and I’ve had them all since the first one in 2007.

Oh this is good to hear. I just want a working phone to enjoy and not have to think about if it’s going to work or not when out and about. My X is all downloaded and ready to go. I’ll give it a really good workout the next couple of days before returning the Max.

Another thing is that the X really feels good in the hands. I came from having the Plus to the Max and although they are the same exact size the Max just felt bulky and heavy.

 

[ssl0408]

Did you all get the Qualcomm X? It’s unfortunate that you all had to purchase an older phone. I’m kinda glad that I didn’t upgrade my X.

 

[rotobadger]

Did you all get the Qualcomm X? It’s unfortunate that you all had to purchase an older phone. I’m kinda glad that I didn’t upgrade my X.

I did check and did get the Qualcomm. So far, connectivity Is fine and I’ve noticed no difference from my SE and 6S.

 

[kneezmo]

Did you all get the Qualcomm X? It’s unfortunate that you all had to purchase an older phone. I’m kinda glad that I didn’t upgrade my X.

Mine is Intel X and works perfectly at the moment. Happy to return with the X far from Xs problems.

 

[OBirder]

Yet as I posted above, my Xs is seemingly slightly faster LTE than iPhone 7 in a difficult location.

So how can hoorible hardware explain the good and bad experiences?

This one is fairly easy in my book: Anytime you still get a LTE signal you are not in a difficult location.

Find a location where your 7 is getting barely 1 bar 3G or 4G. Then let us know what your Xs does.

This is where my 6 and 8 stay connected and my XSM does not.

 

[Nhwhazup]

Did you all get the Qualcomm X? It’s unfortunate that you all had to purchase an older phone. I’m kinda glad that I didn’t upgrade my X.

How can I tell about which modem?
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How can I tell about which modem?

Ignore this post. I found out that mine is the A1865 model.
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This one is fairly easy in my book: Anytime you still get a LTE signal you are not in a difficult location.

Find a location where your 7 is getting barely 1 bar 3G or 4G. Then let us know what your Xs does.

This is where my 6 and 8 stay connected and my XSM does not.

My Max wouldn’t connect consistently when it had 3 bars and LTE.

 

[MaskedCarrot]

The FCC didn’t say that it is a bad design. A blogger said it was disappointing performance. He also said that the pixel 1 had an “average” antenna performance, which performed similarly to the XS according to his charts.

Personally i think that is a load of crap.

I used to have a Pixel XL and it had way better cellular reception than my 7+, 8+, X and now my XS Max.

Actually it blew all of them away, and people would talk about the Pixel not having a great antenna, so that isnt saying much for iPhones in general.

 

[solodogg]

I used to have a Pixel XL and it had way better cellular reception than my 7+, 8+, X and now my XS Max.

Which ironically proves that the FCC documents the semi-amateur blogger decided to quote do not paint the whole picture when it comes to cellular reception, since the gains were worse on it than they are for the Xs and MAX. Antennas are only a small portion of RF reception, which is why adding high gain antennas to WiFi doesn’t always make much difference.

 

[OBirder]

My Max wouldn’t connect consistently when it had 3 bars and LTE.

I was one of the early posters here with the same issues. After that I erased my phone and started fresh. After I restored from backup, I restored all settings.

This solved most of my LTE and WiFi problems.

I believe from this thread that we a variety of situations and some more severe faulty units.

Then we have the rest which state their phone is fine, while others state with the FCC is should be apparent that all of them have a weaker signal. Which is it?

Our personal experience is that the 6 and 8 are better in low signal areas, then my wife's XS and worst my XSM.

On LTE it's typically not apparent. That's why I would be interested for someone who states their phone is fine if the they have access still to an 8, 7 or 6 to find a low signal area on the old phone with 1 bar 3G or 4G and barely holding signal. Then check the XSM.
Personally I as well don't believe that the above will be improved with a software update.

All the speed tests posted don't mean anything for me. That's not where some of us have the problem.

Currently I keep my XSM, since LTE/WiFi is mainly fine. I am not convinced that with an exchange I would get a better phone. It seems it could be much worse.

 

[Packers1958]

The one positive with the Max is it's the best battery life I have ever had on a phone. I charged my phone to 100% last night, took it off the charger, went to bed, woke up 8 hours later and it still showed 100%. Light activity today, Streamed 2 hours of music, and 22 hours later, still at 90%. For some reason, my 10 watt wireless charger does a better job fully charging my phone than my previous fast charging Scamsung wireless charger.

 

[Nhwhazup]

The one positive with the Max is it's the best battery life I have ever had on a phone. I charged my phone to 100% last night, took it off the charger, went to bed, woke up 8 hours later and it still showed 100%. Light activity today, Streamed 2 hours of music, and 22 hours later, still at 90%. For some reason, my 10 watt wireless charger does a better job fully charging my phone than my previous fast charging Scamsung wireless charger.

That is one big plus for the Max I had as well - battery life was awesome. No complaints in that department.

 

[Freakonomics101]

I am sure this had been posted but just for review: https://www.pcmag.com/news/364116/iphone-xs-crushes-x-in-lte-speeds-but-still-falls-short-of

Going back to X or earlier iPhones is probably not the best idea. Just wait for Apple and carrier to update phone.

I’m a guy that doesn’t care about speeds. 10-30 Mbps is enough for me. I care about reception and being able to call, text and have data access. I’m glad I decided to keep my Qualcomm iPX. There’s nothing wrong with it and I really like it, so meh.

 

[burgman]

On Verizon in Salt Lake City I’m seeing 180 to 220 Mbps on my !0s Max in many places. On my 8 plus rarely saw faster than 80 in same places. This is on 12.01 and doing a network reset. I’m ok with the reception so far. The WiFi speed is worse than the 8 plus but not by much.

 

[Nhwhazup]

I’m a guy that doesn’t care about speeds. 10-30 Mbps is enough for me. I care about reception and being able to call, text and have data access. I’m glad I decided to keep my Qualcomm iPX. There’s nothing wrong with it and I really like it, so meh.

I’m with you here.

 

[alFR]

Am I alone in believing that the masses look for issues when they see that others are experiencing issues?

I’m sure there are some genuine issues. If you look back over the last couple of pages of this thread, though, you’ve got a lot of people making comments like “my phone was fine, then we had a hurricane and it didn’t work properly, it must be a fault with the phone” and “my phone was working fine, then I went for my usual walk one day and had connection issues, it must be a design flaw”. We’ve also got people claiming that every reviewer who didn’t mention this issue in their review and the entirety of the tech press and mainstream media are in a giant conspiracy with Apple to hide a huge design flaw. These things don’t make sense if you apply more than a nanosecond of critical thought to them e.g. why would a faulty phone be fine one day then bad the next in the same place? Isn’t it more likely that both these scenarios were network issues? Occam’s razor, people.

X cost 800$ and works propertly. In UK some users have same problems, in spain too. This iis not a firmware update to fix this.. If only was this, why never happens before?

It has: both my 7 and X would occasionally have issues getting signal back after being in areas with no coverage, or have no data flow despite showing a connection. Both got better through iOS / carrier setting updates. Anecdotally, I was out last night with 2 people who had the X: we all had the same signal / function everywhere (in fact my XS worked in a bar where we both had one bar of signal and my friend’s X wouldn’t send an iMessage so XS antenna must be better than X, yes?).

The truth is no-one knows what’s going on. There is so much variability in what people are reporting here with replacement phones vs their originals, signal level comparisons with other phones, local conditions, bands, network etc. it’s impossible to tell if the issues some people are seeing are hardware, software or both. I expect that is also slowing the appearance of any fix that is in the works. The one thing I think we can all agree on is that a statement of some kind from Apple would be nice.

 

[Packers1958]

Just remember, Apple never admitted to the design flaw of the 4. It worked fine as long as you never held it in your hand without a case on it. People actually defended Apple by saying they gave you a cheap bumper, so problem solved. And of course there was nothing wrong with the 6 Plus, but yet they reinforced the 6S Plus so it would not bend as easily.

 

[Nhwhazup]

I’m sure there are some genuine issues. If you look back over the last couple of pages of this thread, though, you’ve got a lot of people making comments like “my phone was fine, then we had a hurricane and it didn’t work properly, it must be a fault with the phone” and “my phone was working fine, then I went for my usual walk one day and had connection issues, it must be a design flaw”. We’ve also got people claiming that every reviewer who didn’t mention this issue in their review and the entirety of the tech press and mainstream media are in a giant conspiracy with Apple to hide a huge design flaw. These things don’t make sense if you apply more than a nanosecond of critical thought to them e.g. why would a faulty phone be fine one day then bad the next in the same place? Isn’t it more likely that both these scenarios were network issues? Occam’s razor, people.

It has: both my 7 and X would occasionally have issues getting signal back after being in areas with no coverage, or have no data flow despite showing a connection. Both got better through iOS / carrier setting updates. Anecdotally, I was out last night with 2 people who had the X: we all had the same signal / function everywhere (in fact my XS worked in a bar where we both had one bar of signal and my friend’s X wouldn’t send an iMessage so XS antenna must be better than X, yes?).

The truth is no-one knows what’s going on. There is so much variability in what people are reporting here with replacement phones vs their originals, signal level comparisons with other phones, local conditions, bands, network etc. it’s impossible to tell if the issues some people are seeing are hardware, software or both. I expect that is also slowing the appearance of any fix that is in the works. The one thing I think we can all agree on is that a statement of some kind from Apple would be nice.

I don’t why you mention my walk post saying “it must be a design flaw”. I never said that. I just offered my experience. I surely don’t know what the issue is. All I know is that I didn’t have an problem ever in this area with my 6S Plus phone. I also mentioned that yesterday that when the Max just wouldn’t connect, I wish I would have had the old Plus with me to compare. Also, this replacement phone was better than the first one but still seemed to have less connectivity than my husband’s 8. I wanted to keep it and tried to just enjoy and not look for trouble. I think it was more wishful thinking that all was okay as I wanted it to be good.

I have no idea if there is a design flaw, iOS problem or ATT is having issues (also visited them twice in the last month - of course they said not them). I just want a phone that works consistently that I can count on. If it isn’t a Max at this point, I’ll be happy with the X. If that one doesn’t work, I’ll go back to the 6S Plus, which I know does work.

I’m truly thrilled and happy for those of you that have new phones that fill your needs. I’ve had Apple devices going back to the 3GS and have never brought one back until the Max. I can put up with things being a little slow or screen tint a little off as I can still use the device. But inconsistent connectivity where my 3 year old phone didn’t have a problem is reason for me to move on.

 

[kneezmo]

@rotobadger and @Nhwhazup we keep strong with our new X 2017 xD Now just wait until 2020 when hope Apple launch an iPhone with 5G. Intel hasnt good modems right now for this conectivity, so i belive in 2019 we dont see 5G iPhone.

 

[smoking monkey]

Just remember, Apple never admitted to the design flaw of the 4. It worked fine as long as you never held it in your hand without a case on it. People actually defended Apple by saying they gave you a cheap bumper, so problem solved. And of course there was nothing wrong with the 6 Plus, but yet they reinforced the 6S Plus so it would not bend as easily.

Yep.
Because Apple have history with this it has made me gun shy to pull the trigger on an XSM at this point.

I'm not taking one for Team Apple at that price point.

 

[kneezmo]

yo you see this video :

When this guy covers the antennas in the Xs, connection drops.. When cover X antennas, still getting a good connection.. Why? less gain in Xs antennas. Thats all.

 

[Stuart6]

The LTE reception and speeds should have been better considering they are using a new modem, but it ended up being a disappointment due to the poor placement of the antenna bands(apple's own design flaw and they won't admit it). As for the wifi, I can get connected to the faster wifi connection, but the reception strength is bad compared to my older iphone 7. Apple merely fix the XS/max not connecting to the faster wifi. Reception strength can never be fixed with ios 12.0.1 and beyond, and to be honest I don't think it can be fixed as these are hardware issues that we have to live with. These are issues that are unacceptable for a phone that costs a lot. I also get more drop calls than before. The new features are cool and all, but Apple couldn't get the basics of a smartphone right...

 

[Thai]

@rotobadger and @Nhwhazup we keep strong with our new X 2017 xD Now just wait until 2020 when hope Apple launch an iPhone with 5G. Intel hasnt good modems right now for this conectivity, so i belive in 2019 we dont see 5G iPhone.

I am confused...you jump back and forth...one post criticizing the antenna...another post criticizing Intel modem. Which is it? You seem unsure of yourself...yet you seem quite confident in your bashing.
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yo you see this video :

When this guy covers the antennas in the Xs, connection drops.. When cover X antennas, still getting a good connection.. Why? less gain in Xs antennas. Thats all.

Interesting...from around 6:19 on in the video, his theory got blown up because his speeds was not affected by him covering the antennas. He admitted it.

Remember, for Wifi, the problem was that Xs on ioS 12.0 did not connect reliably to the 5 Ghz network. 12.0.1 fixed that issue...and thus the Wifi issue in the video.
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I’m a guy that doesn’t care about speeds. 10-30 Mbps is enough for me. I care about reception and being able to call, text and have data access. I’m glad I decided to keep my Qualcomm iPX. There’s nothing wrong with it and I really like it, so meh.

Ok...texts and data are very much dependent on “speed”. So, that PCMAG test answered your question.

I don’t think Qualcomm vs. Intel is the issue at hand.

 

[kneezmo]

I am confused...you jump back and forth...one post criticizing the antenna...another post criticizing Intel modem. Which is it? You seem unsure of yourself...yet you seem quite confident in your bashing.
[doublepost=1540122932][/doublepost]

Interesting...from around 6:19 on in the video, his theory got blown up because his speeds was not affected by him covering the antennas. He admitted it.

Remember, for Wifi, the problem was that Xs on ioS 12.0 did not connect reliably to the 5 Ghz network. 12.0.1 fixed that issue...and thus the Wifi issue in the video.
[doublepost=1540123140][/doublepost]

Ok...texts and data are very much dependent on “speed”. So, that PCMAG test answered your question.

I don’t think Qualcomm vs. Intel is the issue at hand.

I always talk about the design and the antennas, not intel modem.. never had problems before with this , this is not because qualcomm or intel, its the antennas or bad design of the phone.

Ye, he talks after that cover antennas afectts only the wi-fi.. but the lte speed are poor. The question is, if you read the replies in this forum, are people with problems, and people that their xs and xs max works well, but lot of this users tolds already that the lte and wifi speed its similar to the X, and they have to see an increment in this speed.. so if with the X gets 100 over wifi, and Xs 95 or 100 mb.. ok, phone works "well" but no so well that spected, because with this new modems you have to see double speed connection in most of the cases.