Wi-Fi speeds are a major battleground for smartphone makers in 2025, and the N1 chip in Apple’s newest iPhones has provided a big boost compared with last year’s phones.
A new report from Ookla pulled speed data from the iPhone 17 series between Sept. 19 and Oct. 29, 2025, and compared it to various Android devices, including phones from Google, Huawei, Oppo, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi.
The N1 chip found in the iPhone 17 lineup and the iPhone Air provided a significant improvement in download and upload speeds. The iPhone 16 had a global median download speed of 236.46Mbps, while the iPhone 17 jumped to 329.56Mbps, Ookla finds.
Upload speeds were 73.68Mbps on the iPhone 16 and 103.26Mbps on the iPhone 17, an improvement of around 40%. (In PCMag’s tests, the iPhone 17 delivered a max download speed of 668Mbps and max upload speed of 278Mbps.)
Still, in global testing, Google’s Pixel 10 Pro series outpaced Apple’s devices in terms of median download speed—335.33Mbps versus 329.56Mbps. That’s followed by the Xiaomi 15T Pro at 290.50Mbps and Samsung’s devices at 250.83Mbps.
Apple’s phones are limited compared with some Android rivals when it comes to Wi-Fi 7 tech. Apple caps its Wi-Fi frequency at 160MHz, while devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy S25 can double it to 320MHz.
(Credit: Ookla)
The iPhone 17 continues to have the strongest median results in North America despite this limitation. The median download speed hit 416.14Mbps in the US, with the Pixel 10 devices soon after at 411.21Mbps, and Samsung’s S25 at 365.99Mbps.
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Ookla speculates that many users aren’t able to access 320MHz channels as they’ve yet to upgrade their routers to Wi-Fi 7-compatible tech. June testing from Ookla found that less than 2% of homes in the US have upgraded to a next-gen router.
Disclosure: Ookla is owned by PCMag parent company Ziff Davis.
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