What you need to know
- The iPhone 11 Pro attained significantly better LTE speeds than the iPhone 11 during testing.
- The performance is on par with what the iPhone XS delivered.
- The new iPhone 11 models use the Intel XMM7669 modem.
With the iPhone 11 Pro omitting 5G, the focus has turned to how its LTE speeds will be with the Intel XMM7669 modem. Testing by PCMag confirms that the iPhone 11 Pro is significantly faster than the iPhone 11, but not so much over the outgoing iPhone XS.
The iPhone 11 Pro has much faster LTE performance than the regular iPhone 11, but both phones aren't much faster than last year's iPhones on three major US networks, according to our testing.
The iPhone 11 Pro continues to use the same 4x4 MIMO frequency antenna system found in the iPhone XS while the iPhone 11 retains the iPhone XR's slower 2x2 MIMO system.
I did see a huge difference within generations, though, as iPhones with 4x4 MIMO (the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone XS ) downloaded the pants off of iPhones with 2x2 MIMO (the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR ).
As expected the iPhone 11 Pro easily outperformed the iPhone 11, but only tied the iPhone XS. PCMag's testing included testing each new iPhone 11 model on each carrier in New York City and the iPhone 11 Pro performed at a similar level as the iPhone XS.
Speed varied from carrier to carrier with AT&T attaining the highest LTE data speeds in New York City.
Data speeds aren't necessarily a reason users will upgrade, but it should be taken into account, especially if they are coming from an older device.
