Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Feed Link: https://www.engadget.com/
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Title: Apple's new wireless chips give it even more control of the iPhone

Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2025 19:48:26 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/a...

Apple introduced two new wireless chips in the iPhone Air, a preview of a
world where all the key components of the company's products are custom-
designed. The C1X and N1 chips enable wireless features like 5G connectivity
and Wi-Fi 7, building on the original C1 modem the company introduced in the
iPhone 16e.

At least one reason Apple was able to pull off the thin design of the iPhone
Air was the power-efficiency these new chips offer. The C1X modem supports
sub-6Ghz 5G and 4G LTE and is up to two times faster than the C1 modem,
according to Apple. It's also faster than the Qualcomm-designed modem in the
iPhone 16 Pro "for the same cellular technologies." Apple says the chip is
able to achieve these performance improvements while "using 30 percent less
energy overall," which seems key for a phone with a smaller battery than
normal.

Whereas the C1 on the iPhone 16e also enabled Wi-Fi 6, Apple's offloaded Wi-
Fi support to the new N1 chip on the iPhone Air. The N1 chip enables
Bluetooth 6 for connecting to accessories, Wi-Fi 7 and Thread for controlling
your smart home. Both these chips combine with the new A19 Pro, which has a 6-
core CPU, 5-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine, to give the iPhone Air pro-
level power in a thinner profile.

While Apple is using these new components to pull off a radical redesign this
year, all-custom-everything is also where the company is headed overall,
Bloomberg reported in 2024. That's both to avoid paying Qualcomm for
components, and to enable new features and efficiencies in its products.
Apple would even like to combine its modem and processor into a single chip
at some point, though that's reportedly still a few years off.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/a...
even-more-control-of-the-iphone-194820274.html?src=rss

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