Apple announces the iPhone N1 chip, its own custom silicon for Bluetooth and WiFi radios

For the iPhone Air, Apple announced a brand new chip, called the N1 chip. The N1 chip manages the Bluetooth, WiFi and Thread radios inside the new iPhone. The N1 is a custom Apple design, to achieve better wireless performance and power efficiency. Apple specifically said it improves the performance of features like hotspot and AirDrop. This means Apple has replaced another one of the core iPhone components with a chip of its own design. This follows the success of Apple silicon for CPU, GPU and with the cellular modem starting with the C1 chip in the iPhone 16e. The Bluetooth and WiFi controllers were previously powered by Broadcom chips. While the N1 is starting with the new iPhone Air, we can assume it will make its away across Apple’s lineup soon enough.