No discernible sacrifice: The iPhone Air offers market-leading performance in one key way, new report says

Date:
Mon, 23 Mar 2026 13:13:28 +0000

Description:
The iPhone Airs C1X modem is one of the fastest on the market, a new report claims.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Network firm Ookla benchmarked the iPhone Airs C1X iPhone modem The results show it surging ahead of the iPhone 16e Its also on par with the Qualcomm X80 chip in the iPhone 17 Pro Max When leaks revealed that Apple would start outfitting its best iPhones with its own in-house modem chip, there were concerns over how long it would take the Cupertino giant to get its wireless performance up to par compared to competing components from the likes of Qualcomm. But according to a recent report from networking firm Ookla , those concerns might have been overblown.

In the report, Ookla put Apples C1X modem which youll find in the iPhone Air
through its paces. And as the results show, its performance is so good that Ookla believes Apple fans are getting true download parity with Qualcomms market-leading X80 chip. Compared to iPhones with the X80 and those using Apples previous-generation C1 chip, Apple has set new standards for network latency, Ookla believes. Specifically, Ookla tested the 5G performance of the C1X chip in Apples iPhone Air, then compared the results to the Qualcomm X80 in the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Apples C1 in the iPhone 16e . According to the benchmark results, the iPhone Airs C1X outperformed the iPhone 17 Pro Max for latency in 19 out of the 22 markets that Ookla tested. While the differences were small, they suggest that Apple has caught up with rival Qualcomms offering in just a couple of years. Article continues below You may like 24 hours with the MacBook Air M5 it's already faster than the M4 MacBook Air
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As for download speeds, the C1X and Qualcomm X80 were neck and neck. When measured in the United States, for example, the X80 pulled ahead in average and best conditions, while the C1X had the edge in areas with poor signal strength. In all instances, the differences were minor.

Compared to its own C1 chip, the C1X offers a generational leap, Ookla says. It surged ahead in download speeds and offered far better latency too, suggesting that Apple has been able to significantly improve its wireless capabilities between chip generations.

It wasnt all good news. Qualcomms X80 still outperformed the C1X in terms of upload speeds sometimes with a performance difference of up to 32%. That said, the C1X offered notable improvements over the C1 in this area. A highly visible upgrade (Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff) Considering the C1 and C1X chips launched just one year apart, the improvement to wireless performance has been remarkable. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

With Apple committed to using its own in-house modems, that kind of uptick could give its rivals pause for thought, especially with the prospect of a C2 modem launching in this years iPhone 18 range.

Indeed, Ookla says the iPhone Air and C1X provide a highly visible upgrade over the iPhone 16e in terms of content-sharing capability for most of the markets in this analysis.

But firms like Qualcomm are not resting on their laurels, and the company is expected to equip many of the best Android phones with the next-generation
X85 modem in the coming months. That could tip the scales in Qualcomms favor once again.

Yet the mere fact that Apple is able to compete with a long-established force like Qualcomm so soon after entering the modem market is great news for Apple fans. Ookla declares that the C1Xs impressive latency performance against
both competitors and Apples own past chips means that Apple has built the
most responsive modem for daily use on the market one that offers no discernible sacrifice in peak 5G performance compared to the bulkier, more capable Pro device. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too. Today's best Apple iPhone Air deals Contract Deals Sim Free Apple iPhone Air 36 months Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 5GB data 40 upfront 41.49 /mth View at Vodafone Ltd See all prices We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/no-discernible-sacrifice-the-iphone-air-offer s-market-leading-performance-in-one-key-way-new-report-says


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