iPhone 11 Pro Max Hits 537 Mbps Download Speeds on Telus LTE Network

Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max support “Gigabit-class LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA”, according to the company’s website (iPhone 11 only supports 2×2 MIMO).

What the heck does this mean? It means LTE download speeds should be theoretically faster this year on Apple’s Pro iPhone models.

MIMO stands for Multiple In, Multiple Out, meaning the modem chip can handle more cellular network antennas for parallel streams of data. LAA stands for licensed assisted access, which utilizes spectrum from unlicensed 5GHz bands combined with LTE in licensed bands to achieve higher data speeds.

In Canada, Bell for example, noted last year it was the first wireless carrier in Canada to hit data speeds of Gigabit per second in deployment testing, leveraging 4×4 MIMO and LAA technologies.

Are you still with me (I’ve checked out after the first line of this story)? A recent LTE download speed test via Ookla’s Speedtest.net by iPhone in Canada reader, Donato, saw some very impressive speeds.

Donato’s new iPhone 11 Pro Max hit 537 Mbps download speeds on the Telus LTE network and 61.3 Mbps upload. His test alone used 925.7 MB of data (probably more data than the average Canadian’s cellphone plan, lol).

“Conducted a speed test on the new iPhone 11 Pro Max. These are the fastest speeds I’ve ever seen on an iPhone…” he said.

Iphone 11 pro max speedtest telus lte

PCMag’s Sascha Segan, today published results of LTE performance on the iPhone 11 Pro with carriers in the U.S. He said the iPhone 11 Pro beats the iPhone 11, but ties the iPhone XS in his test on American carriers.

Segan’s tests in New York City hit max download speeds of 323 Mbps with the XMM7660 Intel Modem found within Apple’s iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models. Here’s what he discovered about this Intel XM 7660 modem:

Intel’s XMM7660 modem in the new iPhones supposedly supports seven-carrier aggregation. But FCC filings, my own test results, and other sources show that the new iPhones only support 5xCA, just like last year’s iPhones. The latest Qualcomm-based Android phones, like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+, support 7xCA.




Carrier aggregation (CA) combines multiple bands of LTE spectrum to create a wider data path, allowing for faster speeds.

It’ll be interesting to see Segan’s annual speed tests in Canada with PCMag using new faster smartphones such as the iPhone 11 Pro. For 2018, Telus was named the “fastest mobile network” in Canada by the publication.

So what does this mean? Faster LTE speeds are here with Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro models, but we should see even faster speeds once Apple starts using Qualcomm modems, and wireless networks continue to improve with upgrades.

What download speeds are you seeing on your iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max?

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