With the iPhone 17 series officially abandoning Broadcom's design and switching to Apple's self-developed N1 Wi-Fi chip, the outside world has been curious about the actual performance of this new chip. A recent report from network testing firm Ookla, based on global Speedtest Intelligence data analysis from the six weeks following the iPhone 17's launch, shows that the N1 chip not only surpasses its predecessor across the board, but also rivals flagship Android devices in some metrics.
Significant improvements were observed in the Chinese and Japanese markets, with Singapore taking the top spot in internet speed.
According to Ookla's data, compared to the iPhone 16 series with Broadcom chip design, the iPhone 17 with Apple's self-developed N1 chip has improved download and upload speeds in all regions of the world, with some regions seeing improvements of up to 40%.
Its performance in key markets was particularly outstanding.
• China and Japan:The median download speeds measured by iPhone 17 users reached 386.48 Mbps and 328.62 Mbps, respectively, representing a significant increase of approximately 35% and 36% compared to the iPhone 16 series.
• India:The median download speed reached 100.97 Mbps, an improvement of more than 10% over the previous generation.
• Singapore:Thanks to extensive fiber optic coverage and modern routers, the iPhone 17 achieved the world's highest median download speed of 613.8 Mbps.
Showdown with Android flagships: Pixel 10 Pro narrowly wins, iPhone 17 triumphs due to stability
In a side-by-side comparison with flagship Android devices, the Google Pixel 10 Pro series achieved a global median download speed of 335.33 Mbps, slightly outperforming the iPhone 17 series' 329.56 Mbps.
However, the iPhone 17's N1 chip demonstrated its advantage in "connection stability." In the 10th percentile test, representing the "worst-case" scenario, the iPhone 17 led the pack with a download speed of 56.08 Mbps, while the Pixel 10 Pro achieved 53.25 Mbps in this test.
This means that the N1 chip can deliver a more consistent and stable connection experience than its competitors in challenging Wi-Fi connectivity environments, such as those with weak or congested signals.
Xiaomi 15T Pro has the lowest latency, while Huawei is limited by the lack of 6GHz band support.
The report also commented on the performance of other Android flagship models:
• Xiaomi 15T Pro:Powered by MediaTek's Wi-Fi chip design, it delivers the best performance in terms of global median multi-server latency (only 15 milliseconds), while achieving download speeds of up to 887.25 Mbps at the 90th percentile (peak performance).
• Huawei Pura 80:Using Huawei's self-developed chip, although it lacks 6GHz band support, it still demonstrates competitiveness in the Wi-Fi 6 environment in Southeast Asia, boasting the second fastest peak upload speed of 603.61 Mbps.
Overall, data shows that in the Android camp, the 6GHz band offers download speeds that are at least 77% faster than the 5GHz band, demonstrating that Wi-Fi 6E/7 still has a significant spectrum advantage.
