Apple’s newly introduced iPhone 17 series comes with a wireless connectivity innovation. The new smartphones feature Apple’s in-house developed N1 connection chip. However, documents published by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have revealed a significant detail.
The new series’ Wi-Fi 7 support has sparked controversy.
Although the iPhone 17 series features Wi-Fi 7 support, its bandwidth is limited to 160 MHz instead of 320 MHz. This means that, on paper, the iPhone 17 smartphones won’t be able to reach the highest Wi-Fi 7 speeds.
This limitation doesn’t make a noticeable difference in daily use for most end users. Internet speeds are typically limited by factors such as the service provided by service providers, the network equipment used, or the signal intensity in the surrounding area. In practice, even with a 320 MHz channel width, it’s quite difficult to find a scenario where you can utilize the maximum potential of this speed.
Apple’s use of its own chip, despite introducing Wi-Fi 7 support, did not provide the expected 320 MHz support. The iPhone 16 models released last year also had Wi-Fi 7 support limited to 160 MHz, but these devices used Broadcom chips.
With the company’s shift to in-house production, there was an expectation of higher bandwidth support, but this expectation was not met. However, the new N1 chip supports Bluetooth 6 and the Thread protocol for smart home devices, in addition to Wi-Fi 7.
Apple claims that the new chip provides a more stable Personal Hotspot (Hotspot) experience, faster and smoother AirDrop connections, and increases the energy efficiency of the new iPhones. What are your thoughts on this? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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