The M1, M2 iPads have them and they are still slow when connected to a Mac or PC
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iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 pro - USB-C definitely NOT operating at USB 3.2 gen 1 speeds (10gbps) data transfer is still just as slow as USB 2.0 / lightning cable.
- Thread starter MrRom92
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Yep these still transfer at USB 2 speeds even with a TB cable.
So this has nothing to do with the iPhone.
The transfer speed being negotiated between the desktop and iOS/iPadOS platforms are slower by design. This could be for a number of reasons. Maybe parts of these software systems haven't been updated for a long time.
I have a Monoprice Thunderbolt/USB4 cable.
- With an NVMe drive I get 40 Gb/s.
- With my M1 iPad Pro I get 10 Gb/s.
- With my iPhone 15 Pro Max I get only 480 Mb/s.
Connected to Mac or PC? Using a generic cable from Amazon I get 2Gb/s connected to Windows 11 PC (15 Pro Max)
This is probably the only real disappointment about the 15 Pro Max. I was having visions of super-fast backups, but in reality, although it might technically be faster (it's hard to tell with this kind of thing), it sure doesn't feel that way... backups took a long time before, and they take a long time now.
There's no doubt that the raw transfer speed is better. As a test, I just copied a bit over 8gb of video files via Image Capture, and it took about 45 seconds, which works out to be roughly 200MB/s... not nearly as fast as we should get with 10gbps, but still considerably faster than USB2 speeds.
But watching the throughput during the backup, there are periods of 70-80MB/s (so a bit better than USB2 speed), along with stretches where virtually no data is transferred. So, I guess some of the speed is lost by the fact that little chunks of data are being transferred and encrypted, with the backup process itself trying to figure out what incremental data needs to be copied over also cutting into it substantially.
I don't know weather macOS limit the transfer speed by this option.
Because when I connect my iPhone 15 Pro Max to my Mac mini, it shows speed at 10 Gbps.
According to justjackey's test, it should work if data transfer was too slow and limited by macOS.
Now the question is, when this option is set to 0, can iPhone 15 Pros connected to mac run at the 10 Gbps that shows in system panel.
I finally thought I'd give this a go with my Mac Studio M1 Max.
Using a Thunderbolt 3 cable on the front (USB-C ports), the iPhone was only coming up as a USB2 device
Using the same cable on the rear ports, still USB2.
This is the cable, and otherwise gives fast speeds:
I changed tack and tried the cable that came with my Thunderbolt enclosure to one of the rear ports and it came up with USB3:
This is the cable:
www.acasis.com
Although transfer speeds, even connected at USB3, doing a phone backup isn't particularly fast. Still only showing about 40MB/s
Using a Thunderbolt 3 cable on the front (USB-C ports), the iPhone was only coming up as a USB2 device
Using the same cable on the rear ports, still USB2.
This is the cable, and otherwise gives fast speeds:
TEKQ Thunderbolt 3 Cable 40Gbps Data Transfer 100W Power Delivery 4K (1.6ft/0.5M) (Thunderbolt 4, USB 4 and USB C Type C 3.1 Compatible) Black Black 50
- Intel Certified Thunderbolt 3 Cable - High speed data transfer 40Gbps - Certified with USB C 3.1 - Supports 4K or Ultra HD high-quality digital display - Reversible USB-C connectors for hassle-free connections - compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4
www.amazon.com.au
I changed tack and tried the cable that came with my Thunderbolt enclosure to one of the rear ports and it came up with USB3:
This is the cable:
Acasis 40Gbps M.2 NVMe USB 4 Thunderbolt 3/4 SSD Enclosure
Lightning-Speed Data Transfer ACASIS 40Gbps Nvme Enclosure, with blazing speed up to 40Gbps has you covered, offering the ultimate combination of speed, performance, and versatility. Transfer speed up to 40Gbps (varies by host device and SSD), transferring 2.5G large file in 1 second, even...
Although transfer speeds, even connected at USB3, doing a phone backup isn't particularly fast. Still only showing about 40MB/s
Wanted to chime in with how this situation has evolved for me as I've been annoyed by slow backup speeds for ages now.
Today I found myself making a fresh backup of my iPhone 15 Pro Max 512gb. The device reports 295gb available, so adjusting for system files and such, the overall backup should be between 150gb and 200gb.
This was on my M1 Mac using a USB4 cable (from Anker I believe) connected to the Thunderbolt 4 Dock from OWC. The backup ended up taking almost 2 hours, and as soon as I realized how long it was taking I remembered this transfer speed issue and kicked myself for using what I believed was a poor quality cable. That is not actually the case.
I stumbled on this thread and in particularly the Time Machine Speedup command that I am familiar with and use regularly, however I have only ever used it for Time Machine. Had no idea it was applicable to iPhone backups as well, which it definitely is.
Without the setting enabled, System Information was showing my iPhone connected at 480 Mb/s regardless of cable or port utilized. I deleted the backup I had just made and went to make a brand new backup from scratch. I enabled the
sudo sysctl debug.lowpri_throttle_enabled=0 command as I usually do when making a large Time Machine backup.
I'm pleased to report that after maybe 10-15 minutes, the new backup is already 50% completed. System Information now reports my iPhone being connected at up to 10 Gb/s. I wish there was either a way to make that command stay enabled so high speed transfer is always active, or honestly Apple should figure out how to make the transfer rate as high as compatibility of the cable and port utilized will allow. God knows how much time this could save people going forward who are simply unaware that there is a better way to go about the backup process. Hopefully I can remember to make sure I enable it every time I need to make an iPhone backup.
And of course, as always, don't skimp out on cheap cables. Just not worth the headache. Okay thanks for reading, I hope that was helpful!
Today I found myself making a fresh backup of my iPhone 15 Pro Max 512gb. The device reports 295gb available, so adjusting for system files and such, the overall backup should be between 150gb and 200gb.
This was on my M1 Mac using a USB4 cable (from Anker I believe) connected to the Thunderbolt 4 Dock from OWC. The backup ended up taking almost 2 hours, and as soon as I realized how long it was taking I remembered this transfer speed issue and kicked myself for using what I believed was a poor quality cable. That is not actually the case.
I stumbled on this thread and in particularly the Time Machine Speedup command that I am familiar with and use regularly, however I have only ever used it for Time Machine. Had no idea it was applicable to iPhone backups as well, which it definitely is.
Without the setting enabled, System Information was showing my iPhone connected at 480 Mb/s regardless of cable or port utilized. I deleted the backup I had just made and went to make a brand new backup from scratch. I enabled the
sudo sysctl debug.lowpri_throttle_enabled=0 command as I usually do when making a large Time Machine backup.
I'm pleased to report that after maybe 10-15 minutes, the new backup is already 50% completed. System Information now reports my iPhone being connected at up to 10 Gb/s. I wish there was either a way to make that command stay enabled so high speed transfer is always active, or honestly Apple should figure out how to make the transfer rate as high as compatibility of the cable and port utilized will allow. God knows how much time this could save people going forward who are simply unaware that there is a better way to go about the backup process. Hopefully I can remember to make sure I enable it every time I need to make an iPhone backup.
And of course, as always, don't skimp out on cheap cables. Just not worth the headache. Okay thanks for reading, I hope that was helpful!
Wow what a disappointment. Ive just finished reading through this entire thread hoping to find some tidbit of information that would solve this issue but to no avail. Such a shame that even so many months after the phone's release (and years after the ipad's release) there is no solution to this seemingly trivial issue. Why does marketing say one thing and reality do another? Why does an SSD directly attached to the phone allow for the full 10Gbps but not when connecting to a MacBook Pro M1 Pro or similarly capable computer?
My test setup and results:
15 Pro, 16" M1 Pro, TB3 cable correctly showing up as 10Gbps in sysinfo.
Transfer speeds to a T9 SSD both from laptop and from phone are as expected i.e. around 1GBps.
Transfer speeds between laptop and phone are around 50MBps according to activity monitor as well as manually timing.
There shouldn't be a need to find the right cable if sysinfo reports it as 10Gbps and based on other people's posts in this thread, there are no magical cables that work so i only tested the two that I have with identical results.
This is a big shame for anyone like me who often likes to transfer large files to my phone and generally being able to treat is like a handy always-on-me SSD.
There is a reddit thread where one user has mentioned that on their intel based iMac they see fast speeds but doesnt specify what exactly those speeds are. Maybe its the M series that is the common issue.
Has anyone tried contacting support to ask about this and if its something they are aware of by design or otherwise?
P.S: Reading user purplerainpurplerain's responses makes me think he must be rage-baiting or wilfully ignorant of everyones' points because wow, he really doesn't seem to understand the issue XD.
My test setup and results:
15 Pro, 16" M1 Pro, TB3 cable correctly showing up as 10Gbps in sysinfo.
Transfer speeds to a T9 SSD both from laptop and from phone are as expected i.e. around 1GBps.
Transfer speeds between laptop and phone are around 50MBps according to activity monitor as well as manually timing.
There shouldn't be a need to find the right cable if sysinfo reports it as 10Gbps and based on other people's posts in this thread, there are no magical cables that work so i only tested the two that I have with identical results.
This is a big shame for anyone like me who often likes to transfer large files to my phone and generally being able to treat is like a handy always-on-me SSD.
There is a reddit thread where one user has mentioned that on their intel based iMac they see fast speeds but doesnt specify what exactly those speeds are. Maybe its the M series that is the common issue.
Has anyone tried contacting support to ask about this and if its something they are aware of by design or otherwise?
P.S: Reading user purplerainpurplerain's responses makes me think he must be rage-baiting or wilfully ignorant of everyones' points because wow, he really doesn't seem to understand the issue XD.
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Did anyone mention yet that only USB 3.1 gen 2 10Gbs cables and NOT TB3 will give you a 10Gbs transfer speed? At least, according to Apple 🤷🏻♂️
I've accepted that transfer speeds between my M1 MBP and iPhone are slow. For video editing it's actually been better for me to:
-Record 40-90GB of video on iPhone
-Transfer to T7 SSD that attach magnetically to my phone
-Plug SSD into the Mac and edit without transferring the files.
This work flow suits me well and ensures that space on my MBP doesn't run out because of:
-90GB videos
-90GB in rendering files
-10-17GB required for exporting the file
For quick syncing to iCloud I plug my iPhone 15 Pro into ethernet. I have 100 megabit/sec upload speed, which over ethernet is faster and more reliable than syncing over wifi.
