TechInsights has published a teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro Max which confirms that the US version of the device is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X80 modem.
The device’s modem firmware also points to the Snapdragon X80 modem.
The smaller iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo use Apple’s custom-designed C2 modem worldwide, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max uses the C2 modem in all other countries, so the US version of the iPhone 18 Pro Max with a Qualcomm modem is unique.
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models have the same Snapdragon X80 modem worldwide, although TechInsights noted that the US version of the iPhone 18 Pro Max has a newly identified mmWave antenna module from Apple.
We will have to wait for the C2 vs Snapdragon X80 performance tests.
Apple has yet to explain why only the US version of the iPhone 18 Pro Max still has a Qualcomm modem, so we can only speculate for now. In 2023, Qualcomm announced that it would supply Apple with smartphone modems until 2026, so perhaps Apple is ensuring that it meets its contractual obligations in a minimal way.
Apple’s C2 modem supports ultra-fast mmWave 5G technology in the United States, unlike its previous generation C1 and C1X modems. Qualcomm modems in the iPhone 12 and newer models already supported mmWave 5G in the US, so Apple has caught up here. Apple said the C2 delivers “significantly faster” downloads compared to the C1X while consuming 15 percent less power.
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