Apple N1 Chip Offers Up to 40% Faster Speeds, Excels in Weak Wi-Fi Conditions

Apple’s newly introduced N1 wireless networking chip, launched with the iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air in September, has been found to deliver significant performance improvements when compared with both earlier iPhone models and leading Android flagships. The chip, which replaced Broadcom’s processors, had been promoted by the company with promises of better reliability and energy efficiency.

According to a new analysis by Ookla, the developer of Speedtest, the performance of the N1 chipset was evaluated using crowdsourced Speedtest Intelligence data collected over six weeks following the devices’ release. It was observed that the N1 delivered up to 40 percent higher median download and upload speeds globally when compared with the Broadcom-based wireless chip used in the iPhone 16 series.

A substantial improvement in consistency, especially in weak Wi-Fi conditions, was also noted. Users experiencing lower signal strength were reported to have benefitted the most. The 10th-percentile speeds, which represent the lower end of user experience, were found to be more than 60 percent faster on N1-powered iPhones than on the iPhone 16.

When the new iPhones were compared with top Android devices, their performance was observed to be competitive. Google’s Pixel 10 Pro recorded the highest global median download speed at 335.33 Mbps, narrowly ahead of the iPhone 17 family, which recorded 329.56 Mbps. However, at the 10th percentile, the iPhone 17 series was reported to outperform the Pixel 10 Pro, with speeds of 56.08 Mbps versus 53.25 Mbps, indicating better management of challenging network environments.

Some Android models maintained strengths in specific areas. The Xiaomi 15T Pro, equipped with a MediaTek Wi-Fi solution, was observed to deliver strong upload speeds and lower latency. In contrast, Huawei’s Pura 80 series lagged in some markets due to the absence of 6GHz Wi-Fi support, which limited peak performance.

The N1 chip supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, marking Apple’s first fully custom networking silicon. However, support is provided only for 160MHz channels, while the Wi-Fi 7 standard allows 320MHz. Despite this limitation, Ookla reported that real-world performance remained largely unaffected for most users, suggesting that Apple’s hardware integration and signal optimization techniques compensated for the narrower channel width.

In North America, where 320MHz-capable Wi-Fi 7 routers are more widely used, N1-powered iPhones were still found to deliver strong results. A median download speed of 416.14 Mbps and a 90th-percentile speed of 976.39 Mbps were recorded, indicating that peak performance remained competitive despite theoretical constraints.