iPhone 16 Promises Blazing Fast WiFi 7 Speeds, But a Hidden 160 MHz Limitation Holds Back Performance

Apple launched the iPhone 16 lineup with significant upgrades both internally and externally. In addition to a faster processor and more RAM, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max were equipped with WiFi 7 technology, which promised superior download and upload speeds. However, recent tests reveal that the performance of WiFi 7 on these devices doesn’t meet expectations, largely due to a hidden limitation.

WiFi 7 Performance on the iPhone 16 Falls Short of Expectations Due to a 160 MHz Cap

Apple claimed that the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max would offer up to five times faster speeds compared to last year’s iPhone 15 models equipped with WiFi 6E. On paper, WiFi 7 should have boosted speeds from 2.4 Gbps to 5.8 Gbps. However, in real-world testing conducted by Les Numeriques, the iPhone 16 models struggled to deliver on this promise.

The test, carried out with a TP-Link Deco BE85 mesh WiFi system, connected the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Plus to a 6 GHz frequency band and a 10 Gbps network. Despite this robust setup, both devices managed speeds of only 1.6 to 1.7 Gbps, which is nearly identical to the performance of the iPhone 15 Pro Max last year, which used WiFi 6E.

Apple’s Hidden WiFi 7 Limitation

Further investigation showed that the issue lies in Apple’s decision to cap the channel width of WiFi 7 on the iPhone 16 series to just 160 MHz, despite the technology being capable of using the full 320 MHz channel width. This cap effectively halves the potential speed increase that users could experience with WiFi 7.

Apple’s internal diagnostic tool confirmed that the iPhone 16 models only utilize the narrower 160 MHz bands, limiting the real-world performance gains of WiFi 7. The European region only has access to one 320 MHz band, while the United States has access to three, further complicating the rollout of the technology.

It remains to be seen whether this limitation is a result of hardware restrictions or if Apple will release a software update to unlock the full potential of WiFi 7 in the iPhone 16. Apple has not highlighted these limitations in their official documentation, and users on Reddit have reported similar issues.