The new iPhone 17 lineup features Apple’s new N1 chip for Thread Connectivity, Bluetooth 6 and Wi-Fi 7 but has limitations on bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7. The chip supports only a max of 160 MHz, half of the 320 MHz standard channel bandwidth.
This is not an issue for the majority of Apple’s consumers but some would need clarity if the N1 chip offers a bandwidth of 160 or 320 Mhz and has Wi-Fi 7. Having this limitation means the iPhone won’t be able to achieve the best theoretical speeds with Wi-Fi 7.
Apple announced the N1 chip will improve the overall reliability and performance of AirDrop and Personal Hotspot, among other features. It also adds to improvements in power efficiency for the iPhone 17 series, so there are still benefits from this.
Wi-Fi 7 is fast and allows for transmission of data with 2.4GHz, 5GHz or potentially 6Ghz at once with a router that is compatible for a more reliable connection, less latency and faster speeds.
