32GB iPhone 7 significantly slower than more expensive versions, tests show

My suspicion is that it has to do with the test and the SLC cache. In the iPhone 7, most of the flash is TLC, but a portion of the flash is configured as much faster (for writes) SLC. The cache buffers a certain amount of writes, later transferring them to TLC. On a bigger drive this cache is bigger. So if the test fits into SLC cache on the bigger phone but falls out of it on the smaller phone, that (combined with lower write parallelism with fewer flash chips) would explain the write delta.

More troublesome than the slower SSD speeds is the lower quality Intel Modem compared with the Qualcomm Modem -- at least in large cities where there are large buildings that block signal. Meanwhile, the Samsung S7 has the Qualcomm Modem (MDM 9645M) with 4 antennas that allow for 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM DL, EVS (Enhanced voice services). On the Samsung phone the 4x4 MIMO is now turned on as is the EVS (Ultra HD voice), the later which provides higher quality voice and operable at lower signal strength than current HD voice.<p>For those of us the own the Verizon&#x2F;Sprint version, I wish that Apple would at least match the capabilities of the Samsung S7 that shipped 6 months before the iPhone 7. The difference is the quality of the voice and the ability to communicate when signals are weaker.

A slowdown is to be expected with Solid State Disks; as smaller SSDs are slower then larger ones. Simply because larger ones have more NAND chips and are therefore able to write to more locations at once.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;superuser.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;977080&#x2F;does-a-large-ssd-perform-better-than-a-smaller-one" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;superuser.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;977080&#x2F;does-a-large-ssd-perf...</a>

From the looks of it, my 7+ shipped with the Intel modem, and I can definitely see a drop in network strength when compared to my wife&#x27;s iPhone 6. This is particularly worse when traveling, as the phone barely manages handoff properly.<p>I also noticed strange interference noise when using my earphones during my everyday commute. This seems to have been fixed by the recent update (10.0.3) though.

title omission: &quot;... in benchmarks&quot;.<p>In the real world, the flash speed difference is rather insignificant. I don&#x27;t copy around huge 4K movies on my phone very often.

Did they run these tests again AFTER the 10.0.3 patch that was supposed to significantly improve Verizon service for many people (back to at least where it was on a 6s)?

After reading both of the Guardian&#x27;s sources here and seeing what their testing methodology was, I think I&#x27;ll withhold judgement until someone with a more solid reputation does the testing.<p>Quite a few users in the comment thread over on GSMArena are posting testing results for their 32GB iPhone 7 which are much faster than what GSMArena is claiming. Judge for yourself:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gsmarena.com&#x2F;the_32gb_iphone_7_plus_uses_a_substantially_slower_storage_our_tests_show-blog-20943.php" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gsmarena.com&#x2F;the_32gb_iphone_7_plus_uses_a_substa...</a><p>Edit: one more note. GSMArena&#x27;s article on this was posted on October 7; too early for the latest iOS updates to have been used in testing.

Missing from the title: «…significantly slower <i>on network access</i> than…»

<i>The 128GB iPhone 7 wrote to memory at 341Mbps, but the 32GB iPhone 7 was over eight times slower at just 42Mbps.</i><p>Slow write speeds are the hallmark of being too much of a cheapskate when buying SSDs. 42Mbps would be miserably slow for a laptop SSD. Buying such a slow SSD is the kind of mistake I&#x27;d expect from a non-savvy consumer.<p>Then again, how much data is being written to an iPhone&#x27;s SSD per second on average?

Two possible reasons for shower performance:<p>1. 32GB capacity comes with lower SLC cache 2. 32 GB storage has fewer dies&#x2F;planes in NAND reducing parallelism

Gotta maintain that ~40% gross profit margin somehow.

... but it&#x27;s still more than fast enough for any process which executes on the phone.