iPhone 17’s new chip has a great Wi-Fi boost
The initial skepticism about Apple’s new N1 wireless chip has now been clearly dispelled. A recent analysis from Ocular says that the chip used in the iPhone 17 series delivers significant improvements in Wi-Fi speeds over its predecessor, even outperforming many flagship Android devices.
Based on six weeks of global speedtest data, the iPhone 17 series offers up to 40 percent faster download and upload speeds than the iPhone 16. The N1’s 10th percentile speed is up to 60 percent faster, especially in weak Wi-Fi conditions, ensuring consistently good base speeds for users. But the real interesting thing is that on paper, the N1 chip doesn’t have any major spec advantages. Both generations support Wi-Fi 7, but the N1 has upgraded to Bluetooth 6. With a channel width of 160MHz, some assumed it wouldn’t be able to compete with the 320MHz chips in Android flagships.
However, in real-world usage, this has not had a major impact, as very few users have 320MHz-capable routers. In North America, the iPhone 17 achieved the highest average download speed (416.14 Mbps), although globally the Google Pixel 10 Pro Max is ahead. The Xiaomi 15T Pro is at the top in uploads. However, it is clear that the iPhone’s N1 chip is not weak at all.
If you’re worried about the iPhone 17 range’s Wi-Fi performance due to the new Wi-Fi chip, you don’t need to worry. It seems to be a serious upgrade over the iPhone 16 and puts the iPhone 17 almost at the top of the line in improved Wi-Fi performance, coming in close to the top compared to the Android competition.
