Ookla's Speedtest report reveals the fastest phone in the U.S. during Q4

Of the most popular smartphones in the U.S., Apple's iPhone 15 Pro Max was the fastest in the country during the fourth quarter according to Ookla's latest Speedtest Intelligence test. The top-of-the-line 2023 iPhone model delivered median download speeds of 213.84Mbps topping the 189.33Mbps download speed achieved by the runner-up device which happened to be the iPhone 15 Pro during the quarter. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 had the next fastest median download speed of 184.69Mbps followed by the Galaxy S23 Ultra (181.04Mbps) and the iPhone 15 (172.12Mbps).

The iPhone 15 Pro Max also had the fastest median upload speed at 14.70Mbps topping the 12.90Mbps of the iPhone 15 Pro, the 13.88Mbps of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the 12.41Mbps speed tallied by the Galaxy Z Fold 4, and the iPhone 15's 12.15Mbps. As for latency, the Galaxy S23 Ultra had the top score of 52 ms followed by the 53 ms achieved by the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro each were timed at 54 ms and the iPhone 15 had the longest time of the five phones listed by Ookla at 55 ms.

Ookla said that among the top two manufacturers, there was no statistical winner although Samsung ranked first in median download speed (113.74Mbps), median upload speed (10.51Mbps), and latency (54 ms) compared to Apple's 103.74Mbps median download speed, 9.20Mbps median upload speed, and latency score of 58 ms.

The fastest modem chip during the fourth quarter in the U.S. was the Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 5G. This modem chip is found in the iPhone 15 series and Galaxy S23 series and other phones as well. It had a Q4 median download speed of 205.38Mbps and a median upload speed of 14.10Mbps leading the previous generation Snapdragon X65 5G modem chip. The latter had a median download speed of 151.54 and a median upload speed of 11.79Mbps.

Among application processors (AP), the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was the leader with a median download speed of 173.55Mbps. and a median upload speed of 13.13Mbps. The previous-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ AP had a median download speed of 169.27Mbps and a median upload speed of 11.95Mbps.