Teardown confirms US iPhone 18 Pro Max lacks Apple's C2 modem

A teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro Max has revealed that the US model uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon SDX80M 5G modem, rather than Apple's C2 chip as touted by the company. According to TechInsights, the iPhone 18 Pro Max in the US features this Qualcomm modem, whereas models sold outside of the US use the Apple C2 cellular modem. Apple's website claims the iPhone 18 Pro uses the C2 modem, but does not specify which modem is used in the US variant.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X80 modem used in the US iPhone 18 Pro Max is the same modem used worldwide in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple has touted the C2 modem as bringing "AI-powered improvements to cellular quality and reliability," with features such as meaningfully faster uploads and 15% less energy consumption compared to its predecessor.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max has also been found to have varying battery capacities depending on the region. According to iFixit, the North American iPhone 18 Pro has a battery capacity of 4,288mAh, while EU models have a lower capacity, with the iPhone 18 Pro listed at 4,056mAh and the iPhone 18 Pro Max at 5,391mAh.

Brief written by urgent.news from AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Mashable, Tom's Guide — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.