iPhone 14 Pro Max File transfer speed tests between the iPhone 14 Pro Max and 2021 16" MBP: USB vs. AirDrop

[Menneisyys2]

Today, I've run some speedtests to find out how much time a 28,46GB (28 456 004 930 bytes) video needs to be transferred between my iPhone 14 Pro Max (running iOS 16.0.1) and 2021 16" MBP (on MacOS 12.6) using

1, USB
2, AirDrop.

I also wanted to know the following:

1, whether routing thru my Satechi USB-C Multiport V2, which, at the same time, 1, also drives my 4k monitor and 2, delivers power has any consequences on speed
2, whether it's worth disconnecting an external Wi-Fi connection on the MBP and just use cabled Ethernet instead

The figures:

USB:
direct connection (with Apple's own USB-C cable), left side: 13:40
Thru the Satechi: same 13:40

That is, no speed hit caused by the Satechi - good news, no need to have separate cabling.

AirDrop:
1, with an active WiFi connection on the 16": 09:36
2, with NO active WiFi connection on the 16":

ran two tests in this case: 08:12 and 08:02; both quite a bit smaller than the "active WiFi connection" case.

3, finally, also sending the same file from the iP14PM to another receiver (an iPhone11): 18:54 - roughly double of the single-transfer figure (but NO more!)

However, a bit of draback: during these AirDrop operations (which took around 44 minutes, with only very short pauses in between), the temperature of the phone increased from around 23C to 34C.

All in all,

1, AirDrop turned out to be, in the best case (when the 16" didn't have an active WiFi connection, only two Bluetooth ones to my Magic Mouse and Apple BT Keyboard (the one with the two AA's)), around 820/486seconds = 1,69 times faster than thru USB. It's indeed faster - but in no way as fast as some think
2, to get the best transfer speed via AirDrop, do disconnect from your current WiFi access point / whatever on your notebook and use Ethernet instead
3, if you're afraid of your phone warming up, do NOT use AirDrop

 

[PhilBoogie]

Solid info: thanks!

 

[teohyc]

In case anyone's wondering, in the tests above, the transfer speed of 28GB with the best case scenario time of 9m 36s (576s) is 49MB/s.

FYI, USB 3.1 gen 1 and gen 2 released almost 10 years ago have 500MB/s and 1000MB/s transfer speeds.

 

[calstanford]

A shame Apple is using it's ****** USB 2 Lightning port no one wants for years after years. Even needed an EU regulation for Apple to come to their senses (next year onwards).

 

[PhilBoogie]

A shame Apple is using it's ****** USB 2 Lightning port no one wants for years after years. Even needed an EU regulation for Apple to come to their senses (next year onwards).

IF that comes to fruition.

In case anyone's wondering, in the tests above, the transfer speed of 28GB with the best case scenario time of 9m 36s (576s) is 49MB/s.

FYI, USB 3.1 gen 1 and gen 2 released almost 10 years ago have 500MB/s and 1000MB/s transfer speeds.

THIS is always good to read: real life transfer speeds. Because I know 'nothing' when a certain tech tells me my Cat6 cable is 1gbps. (hint, it isn't, at least not in my home setup)

Yeah, for those who often copy large amounts of data testing ones' setup is beneficial as it may very quite a lot. Thanks for posting.

 

[AppleTech22]

Getting to this post months later, thanks for the comp!

In my case, I'm shooting short clips but a high volume of them. Wonder if iCloud Photos is any quicker than direct AirDrop transfer - anyone have insight?

While the iPhone would be able to upload clips as they are taken, one still needs to re-download them to the Mac via the Photos app. Not sure if this double-dip process would be quicker but might be able to be done mores in the background than direct transfer.

 

[BenGoren]

Getting to this post months later, thanks for the comp!

In my case, I'm shooting short clips but a high volume of them. Wonder if iCloud Photos is any quicker than direct AirDrop transfer - anyone have insight?

While the iPhone would be able to upload clips as they are taken, one still needs to re-download them to the Mac via the Photos app. Not sure if this double-dip process would be quicker but might be able to be done mores in the background than direct transfer.

I think that would depend on your workflow.

If you’re shooting and immediately editing, no. Also, if you’re working with a large amount of high-resolution footage, no.

But if you’re shooting casually and then, some time later, doing the editing … quite possibly. Because, in this scenario, by the time you get back to your Mac to sit down to edit, everything has gone from your phone to the cloud and then from the cloud to your Mac. Probably took an “Are you kidding me?” crazy amount of time were you sitting there watching the progress bars, but so what? You were driving back home, or grabbing a bite to eat, or whatever.

Of course, this also presupposes that you have enough free space in your iCloud account for the data. Full-resolution video eats up space fast. You may well need to be brutal about moving stuff out of iCloud after you’ve finished editing.

I’m sure no high-volume professional production setup does anything like this, but it’s also not at all hard to imagine plenty amateurs having lots of fun doing some real quality work this way.

b&