Apple hat sein eigenes WLAN-Chip entwickelt und es offiziell vorgestellt.

At today's Apple press conference, along with the release of new phones, Apple introduced three types of self-developed chips, namely the WiFi & Bluetooth chip, the baseband chip, and the A19 phone chip.

Apple stated that only with these self-developed chips was the company able to achieve the design of the iPhone Air. The high-performance A19 Pro, N1, and C1X chips make it the most energy-efficient iPhone to date.

WiFi & Bluetooth Make Their Debut

The powerful A19 Pro is equipped with a brand-new 6-core CPU, which enhances the performance and efficiency of users' daily tasks and is the fastest CPU among all smartphones. The 5-core GPU architecture has been upgraded, bringing a brand-new mobile gaming experience, including AAA titles. Each GPU core is built with a neural accelerator, enabling the GPU's peak computing power to be up to 3 times higher than the previous generation, making it ideal for driving generative AI models running on the device.

The iPhone Air is equipped with Apple's newly designed wireless network chip N1, which supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread technology. In addition to supporting the latest generation of wireless technology, the N1 also improves the overall performance and reliability of features such as Personal Hotspot and AirDrop. The iPhone Air is also equipped with Apple's newly designed cellular modem C1X. The speed of the C1X can be up to 2 times faster than that of the C1. Under the same cellular technology, it is even faster than the modem in the iPhone 16 Pro, while the overall power consumption is reduced by 30%. This makes the C1X the most power-efficient modem in the iPhone.

Specifically, the A19 has six CPU cores and five GPU cores. The processor has four efficiency cores and two performance cores, while the GPU continues to make progress in hardware-accelerated ray tracing, mesh shading, and MetalFX upgrades.

The A19 Pro will power the new iPhone Air along with the iPhone 17 Pro series. Like the A19, its 6-core CPU uses two performance cores and four efficiency cores. The performance cores have more powerful branch prediction capabilities and higher front-end bandwidth, while the last-level cache of the new efficiency cores has increased by 50%.

The iPhone Air is equipped with a 5-core GPU and Apple's second-generation dynamic caching technology, with faster floating-point operation speed and better image compression performance. Each GPU core has an independent neural accelerator, and Apple claims that this can give the iPhone performance comparable to that of a MacBook Pro.

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are equipped with a more powerful 6-core GPU. Apple promises that its sustained performance will be 40% higher than the previous generation.

Apple summarized that the A19 Pro is Apple's most powerful iPhone chip to date. When used in conjunction with Apple's designed vapor chamber, the A19 Pro can increase the sustained performance of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max by up to 40% compared to the previous generation, making it ideal for gaming, video editing, and running large local language models. Its 6-core CPU is the fastest CPU among all smartphones, and the 6-core GPU architecture includes a neural accelerator built into each GPU core, a larger cache than the A18 Pro, and more memory. This GPU works in conjunction with a brand-new 16-core neural engine to power AI models, stunning graphics processing, and AAA games such as "Arknights: Endfield", enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and higher frame rates.

On the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, the chip will be cooled by a brand-new integrated cooling system. This should help with heat dissipation and avoid the problems that iPhone 15 Pro users encountered when it was released in 2023. The cooling system uses a vapor chamber filled with deionized water to conduct heat throughout the system. Apple said that the heat dissipation performance of the aluminum alloy integrated body is 20 times higher than that of the titanium used in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. As expected, Apple did not compare the A19 Pro in the iPhone Air with the version in the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, which has a vapor chamber and an additional GPU core.

Apple is continuously expanding the functions of its phone chips in all aspects. On the iPhone Air, Apple has created its self-developed network chip N1. This chip will support Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth connectivity, and Thread technology. All of Apple's latest iPhones are equipped with this brand-new N1 chip. Complementing the new A19 Pro in the iPhone Air is Apple's self-designed brand-new N1 chip. This chip will be responsible for wireless functions, including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread technology. Apple said that this integrated chip design will bring improvements in performance and efficiency to features such as AirDrop and Personal Hotspot.

Apple also announced an upgrade to its self-developed C1 modem, which was initially launched with the iPhone 16e. The new C1X modem promises to double the performance but still does not support high-bandwidth, high-capacity millimeter-wave technology. The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro models still use Qualcomm's 5G modems and therefore still support millimeter waves. Apple also claims that the efficiency of the C1X has been improved.

Apple said that the C1X modem supports sub-6GHz 5G and 4G LTE networks and is twice as fast as the C1 modem. Under the "same cellular technology", it is also faster than the Qualcomm-designed modem in the iPhone 16 Pro. Apple said that this chip can achieve these performance improvements while "reducing the overall power consumption by 30%", which seems crucial for a phone with a smaller battery capacity than an ordinary phone.

The C1 chip on the iPhone 16e also supports Wi-Fi 6, but Apple has transferred the Wi-Fi support to the brand-new N1 chip on the iPhone Air. The N1 chip supports Bluetooth 6 to connect accessories, as well as Wi-Fi 7 and Thread to connect smart home devices. These two chips, combined with the brand-new A19 Pro chip equipped with a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core neural network engine, give the iPhone Air professional-level performance in a thinner and lighter body.

According to a Bloomberg report in 2024, although Apple is using these new components for a complete redesign this year, full customization is also the company's development direction in 2024. This is both to avoid paying component fees to Qualcomm and to improve the new functions and efficiency of the products. Apple even hopes to integrate its modem and processor into one chip at some point in the future, although it is reported that this will take several years.

In summary, at this Apple press conference, the company, as always, released new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods. The newly released products include: iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max; AirPods Pro 3 (equipped with real-time translation and a heart rate sensor); and Apple Watch SE 3, Apple Watch Series 11, and Apple Watch Ultra 3. The company also confirmed that all new operating system upgrades, including iOS 26, will be available for free on September 15.

This means that Apple has replaced another core component of the iPhone with its self-designed chip. Previously, starting from the C1 chip in the iPhone 16e, Apple's chips have been successful in terms of CPU, GPU, and cellular modems.

Previously, both the Bluetooth and WiFi controllers were powered by Broadcom chips. Although the N1 is a debut configuration for the new iPhone Air, we can speculate that it will soon appear in Apple's product line.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Semiconductor Industry Observation" (ID: icbank), author: Editorial Department, published by 36Kr with authorization.