iPhone dominates Ookla's list of fastest 5G phones in multiple countries

Yes, I remember quite well the OG iPhone I purchased in 2007. It didn't support 3G and instead, it ran on AT&T's EDGE. The latter delivered data speeds as slow as molasses and the only way to get clear YouTube videos was to find a Wi-Fi signal. And if you were using Safari, people couldn't call you as the calls would go straight to voicemail (visual voicemail to be sure, but voicemail nevertheless). Of course, all of these issues went away when Apple released the iPhone 3GS in 2008

Here we are at the tail end of 2023 and the iPhone has offered 5G support since the iPhone 12 line was launched in 2020. And in the U.S., the new iPhone 15 series dominates Ookla's listing of the fastest 5G phones in the U.S. Ookla, as many of you already know, developed the Speedtest.net app that will measure your phone's 5G downlink and uplink data speeds. You can install Speedtest.net on your iPhone by tapping on this link, or on your Android phone by pressing on this link.

With a median 5G downlink speed of 285.02Mbps and a median 5G uplink speed of 18.26Mbps, the iPhone 15 Pro Max tops the charts in the U.S. The iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro were the next two speediest 5G phones in the States with downlink speeds of 275.48Mbps and 268.99Mbps respectively. With a 5G downlink speed of 249.30Mbps, the iPhone 15 was fourth. The first non-iOS device on the list was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 with a median 5G downlink speed of 231.56Mbps. All of the top five phones use the Snapdragon X70 5G modem chip.

The next phone, number six on the list, is last year's iPhone 14 Pro Max. Running the Snapdragon X65 5G modem chip, the 2022 top-of-the-line iPhone had a median 5G downlink speed of 220.5Mbps. That was followed by the 219.17Mbps median 5G downlink speed achieved by the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the 210.52Mbps speed delivered by the iPhone 14 Pro. Rounding out the top 12 were the Galaxy Z Fold 4 (198.84Mbps), Galaxy Z Flip 4 (174.42Mbps), iPhone 14 Plus (166.82Mbps), and the iPhone 14 (163.67Mbps).

The fastest phone in other countries as measured by Ookla include:

In its report, Ookla writes, "We’re excited by the number of countries where mobile device performance increased with the new models and even more excited by the countries where performance is so fast that consumers can look to new modes of connectivity. Even if your country didn’t see the speed boosts you were hoping for, don’t hold back on upgrading if you want to treat yourself or a loved one based on any other number of reasons."

Apple hoped to have its own homegrown 5G modem chip ready for this year's iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Instead, it ended up signing a deal with Qualcomm that will extend the use of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 5G modem chip in the iPhone. Next year's iPhone 16 Pro line should be equipped with the Snapdragon X75 5G modem chip. The deal inked by Apple and Qualcomm runs through 2026 which means that a Qualcomm modem might also be used with the iPhone 17 Pro line.