Which mobile device a user has plays a crucial role in their experience of a mobile network — and Samsung devices give users the best experience in 35% of countries tested, according to new analysis from OpenSignal.
OpenSignal relies on device-based measurements for its data, and the company’s new report is based on more than 117 billion measurements from 23.3 million devices around the world. Data was collected between April 1 and June 30 of this year, in 73 countries.
Taking device capabilities into account when looking at mobile network experience is crucial, because as Ian Fogg, OpenSignal’s VP of analysis, put it: “Consumers with less-capable smartphones will not be able to enjoy the best mobile network experience that their mobile operator provides.”
While there were over 18,000 smartphone models from hundreds of manufacturers in its data set, OpenSignal focused on the three largest by shipment volume: Apple, Huawei and Samsung.
The company said that in nearly half of countries — 48% — at least two of those device types were in dead-heats as far as performance. In 35% of the countries which OpenSignal looked at, Samsung devices provided the best speeds; in another 17.5%, Apple devices were the fastest. While Huawei wasn’t a clear winner in any of the countries, it was in a tie for best speeds in 17.5% of countries, OpenSignal said.
OpenSignal divided existing devices into three categories: high-tier, mid-tier and low-tier, based on their network capabilities.
“Because high-tier models include more network technologies, they are more sensitive to mobile network improvements and are, in effect, a leading indicator of what the mobile network experience will be in the future,” Fogg wrote.
There were some interesting differences among major device OEMs across categories: while high-tier Samsung devices provided slightly faster speeds than Apple and Huawei devices (26.6 Mbps download speeds as a global average, compared to 25.1 Mbps for Apple and 24.4 Mbps for Huawei devices), mid-tier Apple devices had the fastest speeds in the tier and Huawei devices were the fastest in the low-tier.
Among OpenSignal’s other findings:
-Samsung devices had the best performance boost in Norway; in the U.S., Samsung users recorded download speeds that were 8.2 Mbps faster than iPhone users.
-Apple users had significantly better performance than Samsung or Huawei devices in Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.
Read all the details from OpenSignal here.
In other test news:
–Keysight Technologies this week highlighted its position as a leader in 5G New Radio protocol conformance test cases validated by the Global Certification Forum and PTCRB, as part of accelerating the 5G device ecosystem.
“By offering a leading number of RF and protocol conformance test cases validated by both GCF and PTCRB on the same platform, we’re making it possible for global mobile ecosystems to efficiently accelerate 5G device certification, bringing 5G commercial services to consumers around the world,” said Kailash Narayanan, VP and GMof Keysight’s wireless test group, in a statement.
Keysight also recently introduced a new vector signal generator, the CXG X-series Radio Frequency vector signal generator, aimed at engineers who are designing price-sensitive IoT and general-purpose devices.
–Rohde & Schwarz has partnered with mobile test company Comprion on a solution for testing remote provisioning of eSIM for automotive and IoT. The eSIM over-the-air testing relies on Comprion’s eUICC Profile Manager test software and either Rohde’s CMW500 mobile communications tester or its R&S CMW290 functional radio communications tester; the company noted that a shielding box with antenna coupler, such as its CMW-Z10, is also necessary for the mobile network simulation set-up to test eSIM functionality.
–Teledyne LeCroy introduced Gen-Z protocol analyzer and jammer testing support via its Summit M5x platform; the new Gen-Z protocol, the company explained, is aimed at reducing latencies in accessing shared memory locations and is found in new class of media modules, bridges and switches that are being designed to optimize performance of data processing in enterprise systems.
The company also added USB 3.2 support to its Voyager M4x USB 4 analyzer, and launched new high-speed Ethernet and fiber channel test tools in the form of its SierraNet M648 protocol analysis and traffic impairment system for testing 4 level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) 50G Ethernet and 64G fiber channel interconnections.
–PCTel’s revenues were up 9% year-over-year for its most recent quarter, to $23.5 million. The company saw an 82% jump in quarterly revenue for its test and measurement product line, while its antenna product line saw an 8% drop in revenues. Net income was about $940,00, compared to a loss of about $1.2 million in the same period last year.
David Neumann, PCTEL’s CEO, said that the company’s results were “driven by 5G scanning receiver demand and significant Industrial IoT antenna project wins and facilitated by the cost reduction and realignment actions we took over the past year,” adding that 5G and industrial IoT systems are still in early stages of deployment and PCTel expects to grow with those segments.
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