iPhone X GPS accuracy is weak

After extensive investigations, including hours running multiple GPS apps on both iPhone X and older models, Apple replacing my iPhone X, and a ton of Internet research, it is clear to me what the problem is and everyone with this problem needs to be complaining to Apple. The more of us that tell them this is unacceptable, the more likely this will be fixed in the future.

There are two models of iPhone X - one (A1901) has the GPS accuracy problem and the other (A1865) works properly. If you purchase your phone through AT&T, or purchase an AT&T phone through Apple, you will get the A1901 phone. If you purchase an unlocked SIMless phone or through most other carriers, you will get the A1865 phone. Why does this matter?

The A1865 phone uses a Qualcomm chipset (cellular modem and the GPS chip) and these work great. It is the same family that has been in older iPhones for a long time (which is why this has not been a problem in the past). The A1901 phones (AT&T) come with an Intel chipset that seems to have lower specs all around, and in particular the GPS has more trouble connecting to satellites, and even with the same number of connected satellites, the accuracy is about half that of the Qualcomm (accuracy will show twice the distance).

If you are an AT&T customer, I recommend that you purchase an unlocked phone from Apple (this will be the A1865 version), then get it activated on AT&T and you will be fine. In my case, I purchased my iPhone X from AT&T and it took more than 14 day working with Apple to figure out what the problem was, so AT&T won't take it back. Apple also is unable to exchange this for me because it is not from their inventory, so can only exchange for the same model. If you are in my situation, you need to have them escalate this to engineering. There seems to be no other option for us at this point. This is why I am encouraging as many people as possible to communicate clearly to Apple what the problem is so that they will acknowledge the problem and help us. Hopefully it will become harder for them to claim that your phone is the only one that is having this problem.

It is really not cool of Apple to sell us a phone with severely reduced GPS specs and not tell us there is a difference! Apple, please help us with this.

I had the Qualcomm MDM9655 in my iPhone X but it still had problems with GPS, so I wouldn't necessarily bet on the Intel vs Qualcomm issue as a cause of your problems.

I would do a factory reset, test GPS on your iPhone X without restoring from backup, and if the GPS doesn't work, get a replacement.

I recommend you backup your iPhone X, reset it, and then test it with only GPS Diagnostic installed, before you restore the phone from your backup. That way you can gauge its GPS performance without potential software issues that may have accumulated through usage/iOS upgrades.

You can test the GPS system with the native Apple Maps as long as you know how to differentiate between when it merely uses cell towers/Wifi versus when it is using GPS also. I was told that the blue circle on the map starts to emit "pings" (blue circles that radiate outwards like ripples) when you have a GPS signal but doesn't do that when you just have cell tower/Wifi. This has been my experience. I also use GPS Diagnostics which obviously gives more data on your signal strength. However, I recommended Apple Maps to users who have just reset their phone and wanted to test it in its simplest state, before adding apps and settings to it, and before restoring from backup.

In GPS Diagnostic, try comparing accuracy in meters between the phones over some period, like 10-20 minutes. Bar levels and colours alone may be misleading. When comparing my 5S to X, 5S is better in bars of signal strength, however when comparing accuracy, difference between the phones is about marginal in my test. I recorded screen video of both phones and then transcribed signal length and accuracy over the time to find out that.

A1901 uses Intel chipset and has poor GPS accuracy.

A1865 uses Qualcomm chipset and has good GPS accuracy.

I have the same exact issue with my new iPhone X. I use MotionX GPS extensively and the accuracy is always much worse than every other iPhone in my family (iPhone SE, iPhone 6, iPhone 5). Using other GPS apps and MotionX together I discovered multiple problems. First problem, the iPhone X has a harder time connecting to satellites. It is frequently connected to 7 instead of 8 that older iPhones show in the same area. Also sometimes only finds four when others are still at 8. Second problem, even when connected to the same number of satellites, the accuracy is not nearly as good. My iPhone X never shows lower than 20 ft, while other phones show more like 10. But most often, the accuracy is 52 ft or 105 ft. It frequently shows dotted lines as well, which means that it can't get a sufficient signal to place the location at all. This means my tracks are horribly inaccurate and I cannot trust the distance I hike.

Here's the fun part. This is my second iPhone X. Working with support, they determined that the behavior I described, and diagnosed by doing full resets and set up as new, is a hardware problem and replace the device. The behavior is exactly the same on the new device.

I keep hearing that Apple switched from the Qualcomm GPS chip to Intel, which may account for these problems. I worry that there may not be a software fix that will help, which significantly decreases the value of this otherwise awesome phone. I am on iOS 11.2.5, so any fixes that have been promised are not helping.

Is it possible to get an iPhone X with a Qualcomm chip and still be on my AT&T service? I would go for that solution. does anyone know the answer, or have more information on the problem?

JFYI: This is objective stats of GPS accuracy as measured over long time with GPS Diagnostic, compared between 5S and X. Same results with recovery reset on X: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8192646?answerId=32977444022#32977444022

I'm not sure your statement that the GPS on the A1865 "works great" is correct. I have an unlocked A1865 and its GPS accuracy is clearly worse than that of my iPhone 6. For one thing, the ground tracks on the iPhone X are definitely noisier than those on the iPhone 6, as created by the app Runmeter for the same route. In addition, the lengths of my walks have "increased" with the iPhone X for the very same routes. For example, one of my standard routes averages 4.24 miles on the iPhone 6 but on the iPhone X averages 4.40 miles. That's an increase in distance of about 4%.

Thanks again. I did download the GPS Diagnostics and installed on both the iPhone X and iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 showed ´quite good reception and mainly green bars up to 100%. The iPhone X was between 25-50% lower than the iPhone 6 and frequently seem to drop the signals totally. So there is something that is not right with the iPhone X.

Here is a page that shows what model iPhone X you get with each carrier in each country - https://www.techwalls.com/iphone-x-models-a1865-a1901-a1902-differences/

DO NOT BUY THE A1901 IF YOU CARE ABOUT GPS ACCURACY!

I did conclude that it is the GPS that is very poor on the iPhoneX. Compared to my old iPhone6 the accuracy of the iPhoneX is more or less a joke.

But what is more a joke is Apples Apple Care + support. Having paid more than $250 extra for this support just for the iPhoneX I must admit that Apple is the worst support experience I have ever had. After more that a month and multiple calls and transfers to their so called "senior" deparment thay have not yet managed to send me a replacement phone.

I am still waiting and still experiencing the worst customer service I have ever had. And nobody can tell me what has gone wrong...

My husband and I also encountered the similar problem. Both Iphone X GPS is fine in my husband's car (Audi A6L), but very very weak in my car (Audi A4L), however, no GPS issues occurred when I using my previous phones (Iphone 5/6P) in my own car. I called the service line of Apple China, and the operator told me it is the first complaint she received on Iphone X GPS issue. Are my husband and I just bad luck?? We bought A4 and A6 in the same year, I really do not think it is related cars.... Why Apple can not fix this problem!!!!

I’m having the same issue. I drive uber and I literally doesn’t keep up with me and gets stuck at random locations. Imagine my distraction when the app tells me turn left and it’s really a righty. The app thought I was on the other side of the street smh

Sounds terrific! Could you share links to the sources that can be considered legit for the press (and for Apple) supporting the key statements of your research? Most importantly (a) which model has which chipset, and (b) which model does massively have accuracy issues, and which does not at all?