First Apple C1X modem failure reported

Apple introduced the C1 modem with the iPhone 16e early last year. It was a new direction for the company as it transitioned from using Qualcomm modems. The new 5G modem is supposed to be more power-efficient but lacks support for mmWave 5G speeds. Then, later in the year, Apple launched the C1X refresh that claimed 50% faster mobile data and 30% lower power consumption. Now, the first case of a C1X failure has been reported.

Shared on the r/iphone subreddit, user ‘itstheskylion’ posted a couple of screenshots of the error message that their iPhone Air with the C1X modem was displaying. The user mentioned that they woke up to zero cellular network and upon checking the network settings, they were shown a ‘iPhone Hardware’ issue in the Mobile Diagnostics setting. This was followed by a “Mobile Service Issue Detected” message with a contact Apple support option.

In the comments, the user added that they tried restarting their device, trying a different SIM, resetting the network settings, but nothing helped. For now, it is unclear if the user was able to take the device to Apple and either get a replacement, or a fix for the issue.

This seems to be the first case of the C1X modem failing, hopefully not the first of many. Commenters are suggesting that Apple will likely repair the modem since the iPhone 17 series is more repairable than previous generations. Hopefully, the user is able get a quick solution to their problem.