Poor cell signal on new iPhone xs max

I can tell you that i had this problem and returnet one phone, bought another with same isue, my wife bought one with same isue,we even had different screen color and brightness, i bave tried beta 12.1 ( no change) downgraded back, but all the isue was cased in restoring the phone from old iphone, so now i got 0 problems... but my wife wont have time to erase and download/set up all apps and all over again and she still has wifi/cellular problems... this makes me think its a software isue not hardware

I went to the Apple store, and the genius looked over and said there was nothing wrong with the phone. He also said he’s never heard of such an issue. They exchanged the phone anyway, I’ve been using it without restoring from backup for three days and the problem is still there. I asked if they had any diagnostic software that I can use to try to help find the issue, I’ve read some people have been approached by Apple to do this. He says there is no diagnostic software, and reiterated that he’s never heard of this problem.

Yep... back it up before erasing .... just in case ...

But yea, test it now on fast.com on wifi and cellular to see the speeds... and antena bars in a worst spot. Then after the erase/restore as new... and see if its different

Well i did have my post deleted... idkn why.... they had proof, i guess.

Do not restore from old iphone backup.

Just set it as new iphone.... even if you bought it ghat way.... just do itunes restore as a new iphone.

Guys from apple store wont ever tell that they have a problem with new xs phones, but they are .

In brooklyn atlantic ave appple store, half of the store was people to repair their xs... ( if you ask people) , apple workers would say we never heard of hat issue, they would show their xs, and asuming they got cellular towers in yhe building, sure , its all fine ...

I did do a restore from iTunes. When you call Apple Support, they make you do it. I followed instructions just to be sure, still I have the issue. This iPhone obviously has something wrong with it and Apple better fix it fast. I’m missing my old iPhone 7, which didn’t have this problem.

They released 12.0.1, and while it still doesn’t resolve the cellular issue, it definitely solved the WiFi issue. My WiFi speeds went from 40mbps in the same room as my router, to 300mbps. What a difference!

Now if they can just solve the cellular problem.

I also have the same issue with my iPhone XS Max. Extremely poor cell service, LTE service occasionally and difficulity sending text messages at times. I’ve already reset all my settings and reset network settings, both did absolutely nothing. I‘ve called Apple a few times, their solution now is to backup the phone and do a full restore to factory settings to see if the phone works better. I don’t want to restore to factory, what good is having a phone that can’t be personalized and used to my satisfaction not Apple’s. C’mon Apple fix the problem for all of your disgruntled customers!

Apple Support is recommending that because if that fixes the issue, it shows there is something wrong in your settings or corrupted in your backup that is causing this issue for you.

If you set the phone up as a new device and the issue continues, it's the phone or iOS.

It's a basic first step of troubleshooting further, it doesn't mean you can never customize your phone.

If resetting to factory defaults fixes the issue, the next step will be to restore things back to your phone incrementally until it breaks again, which hopefully it won't ever do.

Greg202020 wrote:

Mine is 1-2 bars lower than my iPhone 7. 😕

Once again, signal "bars" are only directly applicable to the relative signal strength on that device; they are not a measurement of signal level across product lines.

Bought my Xsmax just two days ago and am having horrible problems with low cell strength. Sitting directly across from an ATT cell tower and just getting 2 bars and depending on how I twist my arm, dropping to 1 bar. I cannot get coverage in areas of town that routinely had 4 bars before. A friend with a Note9 standing next to me, gets full signal strength and slightly faster downloads.

When the phone is working, I get really good speed (20Mbs on cell and up to 150 mbs on wifi). None of my other iphones have ever had similar issues. Just concerned this is too flaky a phone for $1200.

I need a new phone, but only have 10 more days to decide if this goes back...and right now I think it does.

Can Apple do anything?

Just at Phone store. With Xs max and note9 next to each other, Xs max had half the bars on cell and WiFi. Surprised the salesman by whipping out my phone (Xs max) and got same poor result

Sadly returning phone to Apple store

This is a real problem and no solution on the hor

Chester52 wrote:

Just at Phone store. With Xs max and note9 next to each other, Xs max had half the bars on cell and WiFi.

Once again, signal bars are only indicative of signal levels for that particular device, not in general.

"3 bars" does not necessarily mean the same thing on an iPhone 8, iPad and iPhone XS.

Sorry William, but this phone has an LTE reception problem. It is both noticeably slower and drops signal more than a Samsung phone operating next to it. You guys keep saying there is no problem but poor reception is real. SUpposedly this phone has the same antennae in it as the Samsung models, if so, means the SW is screwing it up.

Then all I can suggest is to return it if you are within your window and purchase only Samsung in the future.

I find the XS Max has much better reception in the areas I use it than the iPhone 8 Plus and X it replaced.

Recall Apple isn't here; people like myself responding to you are just fellow users and are relating our experiences.