iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16 Wi-Fi Speeds: New Study Reveals the Winner

[MacRumors]

A new study has revealed that the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air achieve significantly faster average Wi-Fi speeds compared to the iPhone 16 series, thanks to Apple's custom-designed N1 chip.

The study was conducted by Ookla, the company behind the popular Speedtest website and app. It said the results are based on global, crowdsourced Speedtest user data collected from September 19 to October 29 of this year.

Ookla said Apple's N1 chip is a "substantial upgrade," with up to 40% faster average download and upload speeds compared to Broadcom's Wi-Fi chip in the iPhone 16 series. The study found that speeds were faster across every country it analyzed, including the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, and others.

The study found that the N1 chip "lifts the floor" for Wi-Fi performance, more than "raising the ceiling." Based on the results, Ookla said the N1 chip often delivers more consistent performance in challenging Wi-Fi conditions.

In the United States in particular, Ookla said the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air series achieved a median average Wi-Fi download speed of 409 Mbps, compared to 350 Mbps for the iPhone 16 series. That is a nearly 17% increase.

Head over to Ookla's website for more charts.

A few months ago, we reported that the N1 chip supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the standard's 320 MHz maximum. This limitation means the devices cannot achieve the peak theoretical speeds possible with Wi-Fi 7, but we said this was a non-issue for most customers, and the study backs that up.

Ookla said the results show the 160 MHz limitation "does not materially affect performance in real world use for most people."

While the study found the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air series tops the iPhone 16 series in terms of average global Wi-Fi download speeds, Ookla said the Google's Pixel 10 Pro series was even faster, but only by a slim margin.

The Pixel 10 Pro came in at 335 Mbps, edging out the iPhone 17 series at 329 Mbps.

All in all, the study reveals that the N1 chip is an upgrade, not a downgrade. If you are considering purchasing any of the iPhone 17 or iPhone Air models, it looks like you can be confident that Wi-Fi performance will not be an issue.

Article Link: iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16 Wi-Fi Speeds: New Study Reveals the Winner

 

[joloriquelme]

Good news.

 

[gaximus]

Why would WiFi speed be different across countries? I'm not talking about the available internet speed. Wouldn't testing it on any 1gb connection be enough to tell the difference between 16 and 17? or am I missing something.

 

[Slix]

And 350 Mbps is still faster than my home's wifi, so it's all a wash for me for a while anyway.

 

[Rychiar]

if only Vision Pro got an n1...

 

[ikjadoon]

Why would WiFi speed be different across countries? I'm not talking about the available internet speed. Wouldn't testing it on any 1gb connection be enough to tell the difference between 16 and 17? or am I missing something.

Inter-country comparisons are definitely differences in ISP speeds.

This is aggregated data, though, so a simple head to head on LAN (not WAN) would be more rigorous.

Unfortunately, most reviews’ WiFi tests are very simplistic, just peak speeds like 2 feet from the AP.

Ookla is kind of fixing that because these are real-world tests in basically any condition. But really only should be compared within each country to kind of cancel out ISP variance.

Wish we still had SmallNetBuilder.

 

[Anaxarxes]

Why would WiFi speed be different across countries? I'm not talking about the available internet speed. Wouldn't testing it on any 1gb connection be enough to tell the difference between 16 and 17? or am I missing something.

It's not Wifi Speed. It's what the Wifi can do with the average internet speed.

France's median conen cting speed is 287Mbps, US is 274Mbps. Hence you see higher speeds here. But maybe not enough to reflect the median, maybe 17 users have done this test in higher speed areas.

What is to be followed on this graph is the difference between 16 and 17.

List of countries by Internet connection speeds - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[guzhogi]

A few months ago, we reported that the N1 chip supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the standard's 320 MHz maximum. This limitation means the devices cannot achieve the peak theoretical speeds possible with Wi-Fi 7, but we said this was a non-issue for most customers, and the study backs that up.

Ookla said the results show the 160 MHz limitation "does not materially affect performance in real world use for most people."

​

Just wondering when homes and businesses could truly take full advantage of wifi 7? There would probably need to be a LOT of VERY expensive infrastructure remodeling to take full advantage of it.

 

[mannyvel]

Inter-country comparisons are definitely differences in ISP speeds.

This is aggregated data, though, so a simple head to head on LAN (not WAN) would be more rigorous.

Unfortunately, most reviews’ WiFi tests are very simplistic, just peak speeds like 2 feet from the AP.

I wonder what's really being tested here. Are these tests on public WiFi, offices, homes?

 

[B-Mc-C]

I wonder if part of this could be explained by people who upgrade their phone every year (many of us) will tend to have faster connections, either because they are more tech savvy or affluent. Would be good to see someone do an apples-to-apples test with both generations on same network.

 

[macbookj0e]

The hot spot on my air is much improved over the older models I had. A nice bonus seeing as I use it a lot for work.

 

[zahuh]

These Apple engineers are truly magical at what they do. Something like a wifi chip that's been around 25+ years can have this level of improvement both in watts used and performance just cause they took a fresh look at it.

 

[Phogro]

What's the Pixel use for a wifi chip?

 

[Gengar]

It's gonna be amazing to see efficiency gains whenever they throw the C-series modem into the next generation of iPhones.

 

[falainber]

OOKLA tests are useless. You do not need millions of users to test WiFi speeds. You need two phones, fast router and local WiFi network (OOKLA tests Internet connections).

 

[iBluetooth]

OOKLA tests are useless. You do not need millions of users to test WiFi speeds. You need two phones, fast router and local WiFi network (OOKLA tests Internet connections).

The OOKLA tests are superior as they test for millions of data points that are achieved under real world conditions, but not a laboratory with controlled wifi. But I guess you knew that and are fishing for the rage

 

[james_c_1]

A new study has revealed that the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air achieve significantly faster average Wi-Fi speeds compared to the iPhone 16 series, thanks to Apple's custom-designed N1 chip.

The study was conducted by Ookla, the company behind the popular Speedtest website and app. It said the results are based on global, crowdsourced Speedtest user data collected from September 19 to October 29 of this year.

Ookla said Apple's N1 chip is a "substantial upgrade," with up to 40% faster average download and upload speeds compared to Broadcom's Wi-Fi chip in the iPhone 16 series. The study found that speeds were faster across every country it analyzed, including the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, and others.

The study found that the N1 chip "lifts the floor" for Wi-Fi performance, more than "raising the ceiling." Based on the results, Ookla said the N1 chip often delivers more consistent performance in challenging Wi-Fi conditions.

In the United States in particular, Ookla said the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air series achieved a median average Wi-Fi download speed of 409 Mbps, compared to 350 Mbps for the iPhone 16 series. That is a nearly 17% increase.

Head over to Ookla's website for more charts.

A few months ago, we reported that the N1 chip supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the standard's 320 MHz maximum. This limitation means the devices cannot achieve the peak theoretical speeds possible with Wi-Fi 7, but we said this was a non-issue for most customers, and the study backs that up.

Ookla said the results show the 160 MHz limitation "does not materially affect performance in real world use for most people."

While the study found the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air series tops the iPhone 16 series in terms of average global Wi-Fi download speeds, Ookla said the Google's Pixel 10 Pro series was even faster, but only by a slim margin.

The Pixel 10 Pro came in at 335 Mbps, edging out the iPhone 17 series at 329 Mbps.

All in all, the study reveals that the N1 chip is an upgrade, not a downgrade. If you are considering purchasing any of the iPhone 17 or iPhone Air models, it looks like you can be confident that Wi-Fi performance will not be an issue.

Article Link: iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16 Wi-Fi Speeds: New Study Reveals the Winner

I have 1gig net with Virgin in the uk. My iPhone 14 Pro Max gets 580mbps and my Mrs iPhone 17 gets 970mbps using Speedtest.net

 

[goobot]

What's the Pixel use for a wifi chip?

Yea I am also wondering what makes the pixel so fast. Do they also use a custom chip?

 

[Return Zero]

OOKLA tests are useless. You do not need millions of users to test WiFi speeds. You need two phones, fast router and local WiFi network (OOKLA tests Internet connections).

It's not totally useless... They're just showing data for 16 vs 17 within a month after launch. Sure, that's going to include some people who upgraded their routers or their ISP connections as well, so the difference might not be as good as it seems, and it certainly isn't very scientific overall. But it still tells a clear story, which is that 17 users are getting better results than 16 users, on average. There was a lot of fear-mongering about the N1 being a downgrade due to the lack of certain frequencies, and this offers some imperfect proof otherwise.

 

[geogecko]

Now if they could just figure out why it can’t keep a WiFi or Bluetooth connection to CarPlay consistently. I’m tired of submitting feedback reports with every beta release, but I still do it…

 

[spartan1967]

Cell data speed & cell data reception strength are the only 2 metrics I care about when it comes to modems.

 

[JohnC1959]

Now if they could just figure out why it can’t keep a WiFi or Bluetooth connection to CarPlay consistently. I’m tired of submitting feedback reports with every beta release, but I still do it…

Not sure about wifi issues but bluetooth is notorious for being suseptible to radio interference from various sources. I have my car's bluetooth drop out now and then. Usually it's just for several second.

 

[swm]

the test is absolutely unscientific as it factors in the access network and the ISP's upstream connectivity utilisation.
also the wifi environment can be very noisy (it is in India) in areas where APs are tightly installed without proper frequency (or any kind of) planning.
we also don't really know whether the number of bw samples from iphone17 are in the same ballpark as the one with iPhone16 (this device has most probably more representation as the newer model is barely 3 months old)

the lower speeds are clearly limited by the available bandwidth in the ISP's network.

 

[geogecko]

Not sure about wifi issues but bluetooth is notorious for being suseptible to radio interference from various sources. I have my car's bluetooth drop out now and then. Usually it's just for several second.

IOS 26 was flawless with a 12PM. Only when I got the 17 did this start happening.

 

[neuropsychguy]

What's the Pixel use for a wifi chip?

As far as I could find, it's not publicly known. It's likely Broadcom-based.