Apple’s custom Wi-Fi chip gives the iPhone 17 a notable boost, according to speed tests

Ookla has recovered that Apple’s customized N1 networking chip that integrates the Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread radios successful the iPhone 17 household “delivers a wide step-change successful real-world Wi-Fi performance” erstwhile compared to the Broadcom spot utilized successful the iPhone 16 models. In North America, the iPhone 17 household besides outperformed flagship Android phones erstwhile it came to Wi-Fi download speeds during the aforesaid clip period.

On paper, the N1 chip’s Wi-Fi capabilities look “virtually identical to its Broadcom-based predecessor” successful the iPhone 16, according to Ookla. The N1 is besides constricted to 160MHz channels and doesn’t instrumentality afloat vantage of Wi-Fi 7’s faster 320MHz channels, but for existent satellite users that regulation didn’t person a important impact.

Using Speedtest Intelligence information gathered during the six-week play aft Apple’s latest smartphones were released, Ookla recovered that the median download and upload speeds of the iPhone 17 household were some up to 40 percent higher than the iPhone 16 household astir the world. The N1’s 10th-percentile speeds were adjacent faster astatine 60 percent higher than the iPhone 16, implying the caller chip’s show improvements are adjacent much noticeable successful “challenging Wi-Fi conditions.”

The iPhone 17 household outperformed flagship Android devices similar the Pixel 10 household and the Galaxy S25 household successful North America, wherever Wi-Fi 7 devices tin usage up to 3 320 MHz channels, and the N1 should beryllium astatine a disadvantage. The iPhone 17 household had the highest median and 90th percentile Wi-Fi download speeds of 416.14 Mbps and 976.39 Mbps, respectively. That could alteration arsenic the fig of 320MHz-capable Wi-Fi 7 routers increases successful North America, but it reinforces the findings that the N1 tin “deliver much accordant show successful non-ideal Wi-Fi conditions.”