iPhone 6 cellular antenna location/replacement

Question

iPhone 6

Das iPhone 6 mit dem 4,7 Zoll Display ist die kleinere Version des iPhone 6 Plus und kam am 19. September 2014 auf dem Markt. Es hat die Modelnnummern A1549, A1586 und A1589.

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Martin Galland @martingalland

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iPhone 6 cellular antenna location/replacement

Hi!

I'm experiencing huge cellular reception issues after upgrading from iPhone 5 to iPhone 6. All from drop outs in calls, other end cannot hear me, and general very poor reception on places where I had good reception with my iPhone 5 and the same carrier/sim card.

I have tried all the software things:

New sim card
Lock it to 3G
Reset network settings

So I may think that there is some problems with the hardware antennas. Does anyone know where the actual cellular antenna(s) is located on the iPhone 6? Is it the one down with the lightning port or is it one on the top? Or maybe both are used as cellular antennas?

Thanks for the help!

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6 Kommentare

I know you've long since moved on, but it could have been your case - especially if it's a rugged one. Try it without a case in those previously great locations.

15. Jun 2016 von Christina Parsley

I had a reception issue with my iPhone 6 on AT&T: spotty cell reception, dropping calls, inability to connect to LTE. When I placed my phone next to an identical model, my phone had less bars.

I went to the Apple store and their internal tests confirmed that my phone was having antenna issues. Since my warranty had lapsed, the only choice they could offer: a new iPhone 6 for $299.

I used 'Field Test Mode' to help troubleshoot the issue; it shows precise numerical values for reception instead of bars. I was able to determine that the issue was my phone case which had an aluminum bar around the outside edges to protect from a drop. Once I removed the case, my reception issues disappeared.

20. Jul 2016 von Richard Schreinert

Hi from the future (2021). This worked like a charm!!!! Yay for phone slaps. Thank you, so glad I found this before buying a new antenna.

16. Jun 2021 von Maddie Kirwin

I'm having similar problems with a 6s that I was given. I replaced the battery, screen and lightning port assembly. Wifi works reliably but mobile (3G/4G) data is very intermittent, the 4G symbol can be present on the screen and it can have 2 or 3 bars of strength and yet the wheel keeps spinning.

29. Jun 2022 von Doug Templeton

Doug check your work on the lightning connector. The back aluminum shel basically is the cellular antenna. I believe some of the coupling points are some of the same screws / flex as the charging port. There may be a little clip in there with gold rimmed holes, make sure you put everything back in the same position . Check an i fixity or other guide very closely and compare your arrangement. dab alcohol on all the metal contact pints around the holes. Also check that you aren't using a suspect third party flex cable that may be known to cause certain issues.

29. Jun 2022 von timblake2112

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6 Antworten

Gewählte Lösung

Dan @danj

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The case it's self are the antennas. Best to get it exchanged at the Apple Store or your carrier as it it likely covered under warranty.

Let me expand on how the body is designed. There appears to be some confusion on where the antennas are. Here is an image showing the bare case from the inside where you can see the isolation of the antenna bands which are the top & bottom sections of the body:

If you look at the green marked sections you can see there are two isolators the white plastic and the black injection that glues things together. How this is done can effect the effectiveness of your phones ability to send & receive signals. Many knockoffs don't use the dual isolators so the effectiveness of the antennas can be effected as the material choice may not offer enough impedance.

Here are the two antennas upper bus bar assembly and the lower antenna cable

There is one more antenna piece the logic board bus bar assembly which also has the NFC antenna the rectangular bar, Unlike the other antenna's this one is aligned right at the insulator (just enough of a signal window) so its focused directly down:

The screws that hold the bus bar need to be spotless (nothing underneath the screws head). Make sure you wipe the surfaces with a reagent isopropyl alcohol as you don't want the impurities to interfere with the signal as well as your finger oils. The logic bus bar also has a label on it which isolates it the from the case if the label is missing or shifted it can effect the signal.

A phone thats gotten wet can have a film of corrosion build up that effects the effectiveness of the transmission. Corrosion on the bus bars also can effect there ability to carry the signal to the case antennas and lastly the antenna screw hole surface (mounts) also can get corroded. Using a pink pencil eraser can clean off the film from the circuit board gold contacts. A more aggressive grey pen eraser can clean the case mounts. You may need replace the bus bars if they are badly corroded.

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The entennas are deeper into the phone than the display, i myself am the type to fix my iphone's issues, and i dont believe that you messed anything up. I recently put in two new antennas into my iphone 6, and had it checked by apple support and they said the new hardware was working (they ran a diagnostic test) and said sometimes the connection between the hardware and the aluminum backing of the actual phone can cause the issue. They suggested buying a new phone. Ive replaced both antennas a second time, hoping the first set that i installed were just weak, but to no avail, there was no change.

Both the antennas are located in the top left portion of the iphone 6's screen.

I hope this helped!

1. Jul 2017 von Savannah McDonald

Savannnah, I agree completely with your comment! It turns out my issue only presented itself when my phone was closed, but worked when the phone was opened for repair (I received a phone call while I was peaking around for issues/misplaced screws/etc.). When I closed the phone, the call was dropped; crazy, right?!

I had found the sticker above comments and other threads had mentioned, and with mine in proper place, I still had some weird grounding issue presening itself. My resolution? Well, let's just say I am enjoying a downgrade to the iPhone 5c until the newest model is released this Fall.

Happy repairs, everyone!

-Kevin

1. Jul 2017 von Kevin Cramblet

Both you guys need to do some reading!

The antennas are the isolated parts of the metal housing not the internal parts. The inner parts are signal guides (bus bars) & cable.

Yes, these parts and the screws that mate them can be bad. More often the case is a cheap knockoff and didn't use the correct plastic to create the electrical isolation the body base and the antenna case elements need.

What you are seeing it the Faraday Effect where the shell & display isolates the signal from getting out as you've effective cut off the external 'window' for the signal.

2. Jul 2017 von Dan

Where can I find the antenna for purchase? My repair guy can't find one for the 6, only the 6Plus.

24. Sep 2017 von Stephen

You need a new iPhone 6 OEM Rear Case as the antennas are molded in to it. The RF signal guides: bus bars and cables can be bought from IFIXIT here: iPhone 6 parts - Click on the cables section to see all of the bus bars & cables

24. Sep 2017 von Dan

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I know you've long since moved on, but it could have been your case - especially if it's a rugged one. Try it without a case in those previously great locations. — Christina Parsley
I had a reception issue with my iPhone 6 on AT&T: spotty cell reception, dropping calls, inability to connect to LTE. When I placed my phone next to an identical model, my phone had less bars.

I went to the Apple store and their internal tests confirmed that my phone was having antenna issues. Since my warranty had lapsed, the only choice they could offer: a new iPhone 6 for $299.

I used 'Field Test Mode' to help troubleshoot the issue; it shows precise numerical values for reception instead of bars. I was able to determine that the issue was my phone case which had an aluminum bar around the outside edges to protect from a drop. Once I removed the case, my reception issues disappeared. — Richard Schreinert
Hi from the future (2021). This worked like a charm!!!! Yay for phone slaps. Thank you, so glad I found this before buying a new antenna. — Maddie Kirwin
I'm having similar problems with a 6s that I was given. I replaced the battery, screen and lightning port assembly. Wifi works reliably but mobile (3G/4G) data is very intermittent, the 4G symbol can be present on the screen and it can have 2 or 3 bars of strength and yet the wheel keeps spinning. — Doug Templeton
Doug check your work on the lightning connector. The back aluminum shel basically is the cellular antenna. I believe some of the coupling points are some of the same screws / flex as the charging port. There may be a little clip in there with gold rimmed holes, make sure you put everything back in the same position . Check an i fixity or other guide very closely and compare your arrangement. dab alcohol on all the metal contact pints around the holes. Also check that you aren't using a suspect third party flex cable that may be known to cause certain issues. — timblake2112
The entennas are deeper into the phone than the display, i myself am the type to fix my iphone's issues, and i dont believe that you messed anything up. I recently put in two new antennas into my iphone 6, and had it checked by apple support and they said the new hardware was working (they ran a diagnostic test) and said sometimes the connection between the hardware and the aluminum backing of the actual phone can cause the issue. They suggested buying a new phone. Ive replaced both antennas a second time, hoping the first set that i installed were just weak, but to no avail, there was no change.

Both the antennas are located in the top left portion of the iphone 6's screen.

I hope this helped! — Savannah McDonald
Savannnah, I agree completely with your comment! It turns out my issue only presented itself when my phone was closed, but worked when the phone was opened for repair (I received a phone call while I was peaking around for issues/misplaced screws/etc.). When I closed the phone, the call was dropped; crazy, right?!

I had found the sticker above comments and other threads had mentioned, and with mine in proper place, I still had some weird grounding issue presening itself. My resolution? Well, let's just say I am enjoying a downgrade to the iPhone 5c until the newest model is released this Fall.

Happy repairs, everyone!

-Kevin — Kevin Cramblet
Both you guys need to do some reading!

The antennas are the isolated parts of the metal housing not the internal parts. The inner parts are signal guides (bus bars) & cable.

Yes, these parts and the screws that mate them can be bad. More often the case is a cheap knockoff and didn't use the correct plastic to create the electrical isolation the body base and the antenna case elements need.

What you are seeing it the Faraday Effect where the shell & display isolates the signal from getting out as you've effective cut off the external 'window' for the signal. — Dan
Where can I find the antenna for purchase? My repair guy can't find one for the 6, only the 6Plus. — Stephen
You need a new iPhone 6 OEM Rear Case as the antennas are molded in to it. The RF signal guides: bus bars and cables can be bought from IFIXIT here: iPhone 6 parts - Click on the cables section to see all of the bus bars & cables — Dan

Stefan Hueser @herrhueser Rep: 289 2 1 1 · Answer 1 · 2016-03-26T16:25:46-07:00

Hilfreichste Antwort

Stefan Hueser @herrhueser

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Hi Martin,

sorry for my bad english, just imagine my german accent while reading and have fun with it.

So i had the same problem with a iPhone6. After trying almost everthing i could read here,

i found the "connection sticker" on the clear copper field of the double antenna flex. https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/ig...

This sticker was not on the copper and coudn't connect to the metal peace behind the display.

I put the sticker back in its position and the phone back together. After a restart and a reset

of the network settings the iPhone quickly found a Service.

I hope this helps!

Stefan

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28 Kommentare:

When did the problems with your iPhone start? Have you ever dropped it?

Because I dropped mine and got the display replaced by a repair shop, two month later the problems began.

27. Mär 2016 von Matthias Hagmann

This fixed the issue for me thanks

3. Apr 2016 von Patrick Kremer

I never post comments or upvote, but this post saved me from thinking I had to retire my 64gb Iphone 6 after it's been over a year since I've gotten it, and I've done a screen repair myself so apple wouldn't have done anything about it. I had been to so many forums, done just about everything you can think of to fix the service problem (not an exaggeration) And I've been pretty bummed about it all day. Now here I am, creating this account to say thank you :)

26. Jun 2016 von Markus Whiteside

This was defintely helpful i replaced the antenna behind the logic board the one that connects close to the wifi connector.= and now is up and working. I have an iphone 6 plus. Good work. Thanks for the help

2. Jul 2016 von Frank

Very helpful thanks! Literally moved the sticker back on to the copper of the antenna, and now back to full signal without issue.

5. Jul 2016 von steve

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Ed Varga @edvarga Rep: 169 iPhone Repair EV 3 5 · Answer 2 · 2016-06-28T11:17:07-07:00

Ed Varga @edvarga

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We are seeing more and more of these in our shop in San Francisco, four in the last 10 days in fact. We've seen them occasionally over the last year but now we are starting to see them more regularly.

In most of these cases the metal casing is bent. When we bend it back (ie. straighten it out) we are able to re-establish service. I never knew if this was a lasting solution because we never heard back from people.

We've always warned people that we don't know if the connection will last. Two customers recently followed up a couple of days after we got it working and told us it wasn't working again.

I have a theory based on similar problems over the years with other models. I don't think you're going to get anywhere changing the flex cable or other antennas. I believe this is an IC chip issue.

My theory is that when the phone casing bends, the circuit board bends. The circuit board bending causes the solder connections for the chip that deals with cellular reception to break.

By straightening the casing and thus, the circuit board the chip makes the connections to the broken solder joints and we are able to temporarily get the phone on a cellular network. But, the damage has already been done and the solder joints are still broken which means they probably aren't going to keep making contact if the phone is dropped or just even used in a day to day manner.

Unless you know how to do a BGA solder repair there is no permanent fix for this issue.

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Ed Varga - I don't know whether I love you Or hate you lol. Thank you very much for your explanation above.

You have echoed my thoughts entirely and unfortunately I think most people replacing parts to fix this issue are going to be disappointed . Unless of course they happen to be able to repair the connector on thelogic board.

I think I can finally decide to get rid of this handset now as a permanent fix is unlikely for me..

Just out of interest do people suffering from this no signal issue occasionally forget they put the phone in the back pocket.. say when you get in the car..?

Just thinking outloud..

Anyway I hope this helps some people..

Continued in next comment..

7. Jul 2016 von ieatraweggs

Yes that's how mine got bent and how I just found out what's wrong with my phone .

6. Feb 2017 von Cal

hi, maybe I got the same problem also, my iphone 6 sometimes turns into "no service". I have to switch off or take of the simcard and its very annoying. Thinking of changing my cellular antenna ....

7. Okt 2015 von Roy Charles

I'm having the same "No Service" problem with my I Phone 6

I brought it to Apple and the service tech said my phone has a very slight bend in it and that the antennas run the entire length of the phone and if they got broke inside that that is the problem. Apple would not repair it. Just wanted to sell me a refurbished one for $299.00

This seems odd though now that I'm looking at the pictures you guys have posted the antenna looks somewhat flexible. And my bend is so slight that unless you placed it on something completely flat it would be almost unnoticeable.

However, since then I have gotten the phone to connect by flexing it opposite of the bend.

I've been using it all day today with no issues, but i imagine as soon as I drop it or flex it slightly it may disconnect again.

BTW, I've also noticed that once the connection is broken it still says it's got signal and bars, but nothing works, then If I were to turn the phone off and back on it would come up as no service or searching. So I'm thinking you may be able to reproduce the problem by flexing the phone a bit once it has service (If you can get it to work at all) and see if all of a sudden after flexing it that your calling features don't connect anymore. I don't really want to do it to mine because Ive got it working right now, but I'm just stating what I've noticed.

29. Mär 2016 von jjmssi

Hello, I am having the same issue on my son's iPhone 6, were you able to find a solution? Thanks

2. Apr 2016 von jamieisaacs

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Timothy Blake @timothyblake Rep: 13 · Answer 3 · 2015-06-10T16:07:09-07:00

Timothy Blake @timothyblake

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you are correct my apologies the grounding clip is indeed on the 5S

the "fake cellular " thing seems odd. can you possibly test the phone with a different Sim , preferably a different carrier?

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Thanks for a great answer!

Since I bought the iPhone cracked and used, I can't say for 100% sure that the problem was there before I repaired it. I asked the seller before buying it, and it worked just fine. Have sent him an email now, and asked again just to confirm it. Although its not easy to say, cause the iPhone gives me a "fake" cellular connection. It shows full cellular reception in the status bar, but several of my friends and family have tried to call me, and then just got the "The mobile phone is off" answer.

I will check the grounding clip now right after this, it could cause the trouble. The heating shield might be used for antenna issues, not as an "protector" for the screen, as I have seen many people call it. Would only protect if you crack your screen from inside and out, haha!

Have also ordering thoose two antenna cables pictures in my post, and also a new lightning flex/cable.Also just updated the iPhone to iOS 9 beta, just to test if it could be an software bug (and also test iOS 9 ;)

11. Jun 2015 von Martin Galland

Update: The grounding clip is just on the 5s, not on the iPhone 6? Could not find any on my device or on any picture of it. So I still struggle with the same issue, and also with iOS 9 :-/

11. Jun 2015 von Martin Galland

When your screen is on, do you see a moon on the top right corner next to the battery indicator?

11. Jun 2015 von Rany

Rany: Nope, had it just been that easy! Hehe :D

Timothy Blake: Have tried other carrier sim, still same problem. Have also tried the sim in other phone=no problem. So pretty sure the problem is related to the phone.

16. Jun 2015 von Martin Galland

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Universo Técnico @universotecnico Rep: 356 Universo Técnico 11 3 · Answer 4 · 2015-06-11T17:55:41-07:00

Universo Técnico @universotecnico

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Hello friends.

The cellular antenna is the dock connector

iPhone 6 Lightning Connector and Headphone Jack

Notwithstanding, the signal of the antennas of the iPhone, is a set of several pieces well embedded within the iPhone.

As the staff this already indicating above, you need to check if everything is in place ..

Produkt

iPhone 6 Lightning Connector and Headphone Jack

$19.99

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Thanks! I'm still waiting for my new dock connector, and will replace it straight away when I recieve it!

16. Jun 2015 von Martin Galland

Updates:

Dock connector changed. First thing I did was a test call to a friend. Ended up with same result as always. Dropped out from the other end and ended in a "Call failed"... So I'm still back at my start point..... I think more and more that it is something wrong with an IC chip or something.

Edit: Will try with the other two antenna "cables" posted in earlier post.

29. Jun 2015 von Martin Galland

just change your charging port out. the antenna is connected to that and will solve your problem. It solved mine.

25. Dez 2016 von Delacy

The antenna is the problem the end of the antenna is soddered to the charge port and the other is connected to the board to make service and receive a signal. All it needs is to either be re-sodered or you can get a new charge port from a repair shop such as cpr cell phone repair and all your problems will be solved.

18. Mai 2017 von aman444777

Maybe this will help someone. I have a 6 Plus. Can't get cellular reception always searching . All this out of the blue. Replaced SIM card, cellular antenna top left corner. Nothing worked. So I seen the antenna line at the bottom right of the phone. You can see the antenna and the tip is covered by a small plate with two screws very close to the charging port just to the right of it. I took that plate off and pushed the tip of the antenna and it clicked in when I pushed on it. Phone is working great have LTE again. So if all fails and you open your phone check that connection on the bottom right corner. I think over time the phone bends just enough to let that connection come un done with vibration and dropping the phone.

14. Okt 2016 von Jay

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