As Apple's iPhone 17 series faces criticism for being slower in cellular mode than older models and rival devices, an analysis said applying the company's recently released developer software speeds up the connection. Cellular issues with the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro, where responses were delayed by 1–2 seconds when sending and receiving data, have been raised since Sep. It is presumed Apple fixed the bug through a software update. However, the latest non-developer operating system, iOS 26.1, still showed instability in cellular mode.
On the 20th, multiple posts appeared on the Naver cafe "Asamo," which has 2.39 million Apple product users, saying the cellular issue was resolved after upgrading the software to iOS 26.2 developer mode (iOS 26.2 beta 3). Users posted so-called "ping test" verification screens and said ping values stabilized after the software upgrade. A ping test is a network diagnostic method that checks whether a device can properly communicate with a specific server or another device. It measures the time it takes for a signal to return to the device after being sent; the lower the number, the smoother the network.
iPhone 17 users said, "I was so stressed I was habitually running ping tests after purchase, but I feel relieved," and "I can especially feel that data reception got faster when sending messages."
Earlier, on the 17th, Apple released the third beta of iOS 26.2 for developers. According to the industry, Apple added an option in this update to replace the default voice assistant "Siri," which is invoked by the iPhone's side button, with another voice assistant. It also added a feature that lets devices maintain AirDrop consolidation for up to 30 days even if the user does not separately save a contact. iOS 26.2 is expected to be officially released in Dec.
However, on the latest official software, iOS 26.1, cellular mode still appeared unstable. When a ping test was run on the iPhone 17 on the morning of the day, the minimum value swung to 53 and the maximum to 679. When a network is stable, the graph stays near and continues around the minimum value. The roughly 2-second delay persisted when sending and receiving KakaoTalk messages.
Although complaints from buyers poured in over cellular issues since the iPhone 17 launched in Sep., Apple has faced criticism for maintaining silence. Not only in Korea but also overseas, the iPhone 17 was assessed as critically unstable for messaging or viewing stock screens relative to its high price. According to an online survey conducted by IT outlet PhoneArena, about 50% of responding iPhone 17 users said they experienced cellular issues, including poor currency.
PhoneArena criticized, "In the end, smartphones are products made to make calls and send texts," adding, "If this function is unstable, no matter how innovative the features, it can amount to an expensive camera."