Bigger and badder iPhone 6 Plus doesn’t top the list

Jan 27, 2015 13:05 GMT  ·  By
Decibel meters aligned perfectly with the speaker placement of each iPhone in part
   Decibel meters aligned perfectly with the speaker placement of each iPhone in part

A speaker volume test carried out by iClarified reveals that as iPhones evolve, so do a number of key hardware parts that make them up. Like the speaker, for instance, which went from 94.3 dBA (decibels) to 105.0 dBA in ten generations.

Yes, despite what the numbering might suggest, the iPhone 6 is actually the tenth iPhone generation. To get to the iPhone 4, Apple had to go through 3G and 3GS, and then every new number was preceded by another one of these S-upgrades. This time around, Apple might surprise us and release both the incremental upgrade (iPhone 6S) and the major new version (iPhone 7) before year’s end, some say. But we’re not here for that.

What we’re here for is to watch and be amazed at the different decibel ranges output by different iPhones from different generations. iClarified got hold of all ten models (I’d kill to hold a 2G again) and used ten separate decibel meters to measure their speakers’ power individually, one after the other (so that one’s sound wouldn’t interfere with the other’s, yet still have all 10 devices recorded in one take).

The results are listed below, followed by the embedded clip. Surprisingly, the smaller iPhone 6 scored higher than the iPhone 6 Plus.

● iPhone 2G: 94.3 dBA ● iPhone 3G: 98.6 dBA ● iPhone 3GS: 103.6 dBA ● iPhone 4: 92.9 dBA ● iPhone 4S: 101.1 dBA ● iPhone 5: 104.0 dBA ● iPhone 5c: 102.0 dBA ● iPhone 5s: 103.6 dBA ● iPhone 6: 105.4 dBA ● iPhone 6+: 105.0 dBA