Apple's latest batch of smartphones have, once again, captured people's attention and been a blockbuster success from what we can tell. However, while they boast impressive specs, they may leave something to be desired when it comes to cell reception.

According to various reports on both Twitter and Reddit, early adopters of both the iPhone XS and XS Max are reportedly seeing worse cellular or Wi-Fi signal strength than compared to other phones or even previous generations of iPhones. Some even claim the two-year-old iPhone 7 may be better.

Anyone else having less than great LTE performance on iPhone XS? My iPhone 7 held signal way better. — Justin Flood (@JustinFlood) September 24, 2018

While these reports could be chalked up to individual coincidences, the problems with cellular reception, for example, seem to apply to different carriers, making it far more likely that the problem lies with the phones themselves rather than the setup of any given carrier. They are also backed by some preliminary lab testing.

RF power output testing by WiWavelength, a blog focusing on wireless technology, shows both the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max struggling with RF power output, and data obtained show that, for most cellular bands, both phones are unable to even surpass the 200mW benchmark that is the standard target for such tests.

WiWavelength alleges that despite the presence of four antennas - and perhaps due to the manner in which they are incorporated - the phones exhibit negative antenna gain, which in turn is causing attenuation. If this turns out to be true, the problem may be fundamental to the design of the phones themselves and may be difficult to entirely fix with just software.

That said, back in 2016, the iPhone 7 suffered from similar problems but Apple was able to alleviate some of these concerns through a software update. Hopefully, it can do something similar this time around.

Via: Business Insider