Other Qualcomm X75 in iPhone 16 models [MERGED]

[azhava]

Did the ifixit tear down have a SIM tray? I’m going to rewatch and pay attention. Is it true that the US version is the only model that doesn’t have a SIM tray?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/all-iphone-16-models-sold-outside-u-s-still-have-physical-sim-card-tray.2435526/

 

[ikjadoon]

GSM Arena's 4G voice call battery life test showed significant improvements:

iPhone 15PM: 25h05m
iPhone 16PM: 30h54m (+23.1% longer)

The battery is only ~5.5% larger, so much of this improvement may be in this "SDX71M" modem.

The test:

• Call test: The Call test remains a staple in our battery tests. Now running over a 4G network (with VoLTE), the outcome remains largely consistent with our past tests.

 

[thadoggfather]

is it actually confirmed 16 and 16 plus use same modem as Pro counterparts?

I saw Pro teardown revealing X71 I believe? (custom X70 for Apple?) but not for regulars specific to modem. Would be curious

 

[lowimpact]

So all US 16 series iPhones are limited to refreshed X71 modem? Not X75?

I have my iPhone 16 Pro Max still in the box and am planning to just return it at this point. So many annoying cost cutting measures this year are making the already minor year over year upgrades sting just that much more. I get that Apple's primary goal with the Pro series this year seems was to keep their bill of materials on these phones down to avoid having to hike prices, but... paying $1000+ for a flagship phone with effectively the same modem as the S23 series that released 18+ months ago is painful.

 

[JPack]

So, can anyone confirm if the US version of the base iPhone 16 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 modem? I am still a bit confused as all the teardown videos I have seen appear to be international versions of the base iPhone 16.

Thanks!

Confirmed multiple times, X71. We should stop talking X75.

 

[JPack]

is it actually confirmed 16 and 16 plus use same modem as Pro counterparts?

I saw Pro teardown revealing X71 I believe? (custom X70 for Apple?) but not for regulars specific to modem. Would be curious

Yes, all four models globally use X71. There is no difference in Pro/Max or regular.

 

[JPack]

Did the ifixit tear down have a SIM tray? I’m going to rewatch and pay attention. Is it true that the US version is the only model that doesn’t have a SIM tray?

iFixit tore down a U.S. Pro model with no SIM tray. Everybody else in the world gets a tray. The U.S. version gets a plastic spacer without any components in that area of the logic board.

 

[thadoggfather]

iFixit tore down a U.S. Pro model with no SIM tray. Everybody else in the world gets a tray. The U.S. version gets a plastic spacer without any components in that area of the logic board.

View attachment 2431770

I’ve always wondered what impact if any it’s had on sales for people visiting US as tourists and buying unlocked phones for their home country when they check out a big city Apple Store for example

 

[JPack]

I’ve always wondered what impact if any it’s had on sales for people visiting US as tourists and buying unlocked phones for their home country when they check out a big city Apple Store for example

I would say definitely. From what I've heard, professional resellers globally have bought much more units from Hong Kong since iPhone 14. I know friends and family who have discouraged those visiting the U.S. from buying.

 

[ikjadoon]

An interesting read recently from Google's security team:

Pixel 9 has Google’s ‘most hardened baseband’ to counter modem vulnerabilities

Google today detailed how it has "significantly increase[d] Pixel 9’s resilience to baseband attacks" and cellular modem vulnerabilities...

9to5google.com

Mature software hardening techniques that are commonplace in the Android operating system, for example, are often absent from cellular firmwares of many popular smartphones.

Google's Pixel 9 uses a standard Exynos Modem 5400, but apparently Google has significantly hardened & customized the firmware.

//

Unfounded speculation: perhaps the SDX71M allows Apple to control more of the firmware. That is,

X70: Apple uses mostly Qualcomm's firmware with slightly less control
X71M: Apple uses slightly less Qualcomm firmware with slightly more control

I have no idea, but I'd definitely like to learn more.

//

I thought it might be related to the missing LTE band (46, unlicensed), but I've learned that band almost precisely overlaps with Wi-Fi 5 GHz (!) and thus was rarely active. Perhaps the Wi-Fi 7 introduction was a good time to clean it up old 4G bands?

//

Before people post this link, it seems to be made-up nonsense:

iPhone 16 Pro offers up to 26% faster 5G download speeds with X75 modem - Speedsmart Speed Test

SpeedSmart.net is an HTML5 Internet speed test. Test your internet connection speed in seconds to locations all around the world with this broadband speed test to see how fast your home or mobile internet connection really is across every device.

speedsmart.net

It was tabulated on September 11, 2024—iPhone 16s did not launch until Sept 20, 2024. So this site did one of two improper comparisons:

1) Comparing ~500 iPhone 16 review units (huge selection bias) vs ~10,000,000+ iPhone 15 consumer units. These are not real numbers, but just orders of magnitude.

or

2) Using data from Android devices with X75 modems (which would be even more irresponsible) vs iPhone 15s with X70.

I'd wait a few more months to see aggregated data comparisons between the X70 iPhones vs X71M iPhones for any usable performance comparisons.

 

[ikjadoon]

Sorry for double-posting, but found some more info on SDX71M. There's a chance Apple is not the only customer of the SDX71M, as Qualcomm has been releasing security updates for it since March 2024:

CMD/CTRL+F SDX71M in Qualcomm security bulletins below:

March 2024, July 2024, August 2024, September 2024

QC customers were alerted to SDX71M security updates as far back as October 2023.