The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem for faster 5G speeds, lower power consumption, and improved mmWave support on U.S. models, according to a teardown of the devices shared on YouTube today.
The X65 chip can be seen on the logic board in a teardown of the iPhone 14 Pro. We're still in the process of confirming whether the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus also have the X65, but all models within a series typically share the same modem.
iPhone 14 Pro teardown confirms the inclusion of Qualcomm's X65 modem
Qualcomm announced the X65 modem in February 2021 with power efficiency improvements, resulting in improved battery life while using 5G. In addition, the X65 modem is the world's first 10 Gigabit 5G modem and antenna system for smartphones, enabling theoretical data speeds up to 10 gigabits per second. In May 2021, Qualcomm updated its X65 Snapdragon modem with wider mmWave spectrum support.
The power efficiency improvements of both the X65 modem and A16 Bionic chip contribute to longer battery life on iPhone 14 Pro models. A battery test earlier this week claimed that the iPhone 14 Pro Max lasted two hours longer than the iPhone 13 Pro Max from last year. The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max are now starting to arrive to customers.
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future.
"I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone.
In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta.
Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Don’t think i saw any reviewer speak about improved signal unfortunately. Battery gains are nice but man apple needs to sprinkle some magic on those antennas.
The X65 is actually a big deal. Not for top theoretical speeds, but it’s much better at aggregating different channels to achieve higher speeds if the cellular site and provider support it.
But the feature I’m most excited about is its ability to use AI to eke out the most from a weak signal. As shown in the article below, the X65 modem has the ability to get over 4 times the throughput with a medium to very weak signal compared to the X60 modem.
I believe Qualcomm sells the modem along with an antenna system. However, I’m not sure the apple uses their antenna system. So if not the performance probably isn’t quite as good as the s22 but should still see improvements over the 13.
I am, and sometimes it's noticeably better, but mainly because on my carrier in Canada in busy areas sometimes the 4G LTE is congested.
What our big three Canadian carriers do is reserve 5G for their main brand, but put the cheaper brands on 4G LTE. This along with the fact that a lot of the installed base isn't on 5G yet means that the 5G service is a lot less congested.
It's not about max download speed though. It's about reliability and reduced lag.
When I got my 13 ProMax last year I noticed a significant improvement overmy 12 ProMax LTE modem. We also live in area of town where the cell signals vary between 1-2 bars in my yard and usually 1 in house with aluminum siding and all. With last years Qualcomm modem I was getting 2 to 3 bars outside sometimes. (Still mostly 2 but better) and 1-2 bars inside. So I saw a major improvement in going to 5G for me I suppose even with weaker signal strength this tower on edge of town had less on 5G vs LTE?