Will an update fix signal issues for XS and XS Max?

I returned my iPhone Xs yesterday within the 14 day window and exchanged for a new one. I was hopeful as the new one performed well in LTE areas. We live in a rural area, as soon as we arrived home, I was showing no signal. Couldn’t call my husband sitting next to me. He had 4 bars. My old iPhone 5 had four bars. We are 45 miles from our Verizon Store and here we go again. This is a hardware issue no doubt!

The update people are talking about is 12.1, NOT 12.0.1. This should be, hopefully, coming out this week.....whenever release day is for the new ipads.

12.0.1 largely resolved Wi-Fi issues for most, certainly the speed issues.

No one here can answer this question. There are multiple threads on this and people are providing data to Apple, so we know Apple is working on this. First, it's not a universal issue, so that always makes it harder to pinpoint. My XS Max has stunning Wifi and LTE performance, for example. Typically, Apple works very hard behind the scenes and I would personally expect them to put out an update which will help those who are having an issue. As users, we'll just not know until that update comes out.

Right, My carrier is Sprint. As you may have read on other posts here and reddit it is not a carrier specific issue. My old phone was a Samsung Galaxy S8 and I switched to Apple for the first time ever... and the XS has actually worse connection issues in the same spots than my old S8 phone... Which was very disappointing. Went to apple store this past Tuesday, they said they were just briefed on the issue that morning and that I was first one to come in to that location. It may be an IOS12 issue. They said they were expecting more ppl to come with issues when they push out the new IOS12 to other users as well. They swapped out my sim card, and had to go to sprint store for activation. Sprint fumbles and says that the sim card is not compatible with the XS even though the sim card apple gave me specifically was for the sprint network. So then Had to go BACK to apple, they gave me new sim again but this time called their sprint line that is specific for apple activation's and got it done over the phone with them. Still experiencing the connection issues however. I have read it may be because the Carriers did not have the software on their towers prepared for the new IPhones and their modems but it may just be IOS12 issue. Not sure...

As for the issue being limited to Verizon only that is not true. I am on ATT and experienced first hand issues with dropped calls. I was on a call with my wife in an area that I drive in daily, and lost the call twice. I never had that issue in the same area with my iPhone 8 Plus. Also in my house I saw network throughput issues on my XS Max. When I was trying to run speedtest I would get an error on occasion that would tell me I was not connected to a network when I clearly was. I had purposely turned off cellular data so I would not be pulling data from ATT. My iPad Pro can max out my connection running speedtest but the iPhone XS Max would not. I'll let the fog clear before I purchase the new iPhone again. I'll give it 6 months.

I truly hope that Apple gets this sorted out. I have had almost every iteration of iPhone since the first and my experience with the XS Max is the worst. I ordered mine at the first opportunity and received it just in time to take on a road trip to AZ from IN. Seeing that I have both a business phone and a Personal, I intended to use my 8+ for navigation and music streaming and my new Max for calls, texting (not while driving for those who like to question everything!), etc. What I discovered is that going across mostly interstates and US Highways, my maps and music rarely missed a beat. At the same time, probably 15-20% of my trip registered ‘No Service’ on my Max. Additionally, I discovered that the WiFi and LTE transfer speeds were abysmal.

When I got to Phoenix, I took my Max to the Biltmore Apple Store where they suggested replacing it. Since I was getting close to the 2 week window, I simply returned it and purchased another outright to give myself another two weeks while I continued my travels. After hitting several national parks and then driving home I really put the 2nd Max to the test and discovered that 1) the download/upload speeds were totally improved on the new Max, 2) The reception of the Max was still horrendous. I dropped calls, had garbled audio in conversations, and still registered ’No Service’ during hours of my trip. So I took the 2nd Max back yesterday. This Appears to be fairly widespread, and seems to specifically impact those who aren’t within strong LTE range. As soon as it hits a marginal area, it drops out. Additionally, I noticed that even when I would go from an area with 4G coverage to a well-covered LTE region, my 8+ would pick up LTE flawlessly, but my Max would take forever to capture the good LTE signal.

If they get this fixed, I’m definitely picking up another XSM, as I love the screen and camera, but for now I’m totally soured on the entire experience. It just seems like no one tested this thing outside of Cupertino (which can’t possibly be true).

Is it the antenna design? The Intel modem? Software? I honestly have no clue, but I’m done with it until I start seeing people receiving definitive fixes. Having > $1850 wrapped up in a phone that performs considerably worse than my 8+ is simply Inconceivable.

p.s.- I might add that in both cases, the Apple techs at Biltmore and Indy were beyond fantastic. They were professional, accommodating and understanding.

These appear to be blog posts, not official FCC statements and they were, for the most part posted before iOS 12.0.1 was released, which for many solved the phone grabbing the 2.4ghz band over the 5ghz band.

The signal on my new Xs is terrible. When I put it side by side with my wife’s 6s there are glaring differences! I am working with apple support and sending them data. They reported that the 12.1 update would help but I have been running 12.1 for several days and have not noticed improvement. I will be sending the phone back if it doesn’t get better.

Your choice to keep. It's a crap shoot. Nobody knows if firmware update will fix the issue. You have to decide if you want to keep a potential paperweight of a phone or go with something that definitely works. I jumped ship and went with the Pixel 3 and love it. Pure Android no third party interface like touchwiz on Samsung devices. When Google rolls out the next version of Android I will get it automatically. Since you're on Verizon you can pick one up at any Verizon store. Verizon is the exclusive launch partner.

No one can say if your issues would be resolved simply because it's dependent upon so many factors.

I've mentioned previously my XS Max does not drop calls in areas my iPhone X and 8 Plus always did, and can access data where neither previous phone could.

Also:

No other iPhone device I've ever owned has broken 439 Mbps down.

You can certainly return the phone. Or wait for an update, which I'm willing to bet (but certainly can't guarantee) will be forthcoming.

Make sure you have updated to iOS 12.0.1; that solved all 5 GHz connectivity issues for myself and many others.