Apple Launches 4 Chips for iPhone 17 Series

Apple's annual fall product launch took place at 1 a.m. Beijing time on Wednesday, September 10, revealing four new chips: the next-generation A19 Pro and A19 mobile processors built on advanced 3nm process technology, the all-new N1 wireless networking chip, and the C1X modem.

The base iPhone 17 will feature the A19 chip, while higher-end models will use the more powerful A19 Pro. Both chips are expected to be manufactured using TSMC's latest N3P process node, which may also be used in Apple's upcoming M5 chips for iPad and Mac. All iPhone 17 models come equipped with the N1 wireless chip, supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

The A19 Pro is Apple's most powerful iPhone chip yet, with a 6-core CPU and 6-core or 5-core GPU, larger cache and memory than the A18 Pro, and GPU cores integrated with neural network accelerators. It also features Apple's most advanced thermal design to date. iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models feature a 6-core GPU, promising sustained performance improvements of up to 40% over the previous generation.

The standard A19 chip also delivers major gains in performance and efficiency. It features a 6-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores, a 5-core GPU, an upgraded display engine, image signal processor (ISP), and neural engine.

Wireless connectivity sees a major upgrade as well. Building on years of experience with Apple Watch and AirPods wireless chips, the new N1 supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread, and enhances performance and reliability for features like Personal Hotspot and AirDrop.

Finally, Apple introduced the C1X modem just six months after the spring release of the C1. The new C1X doubles the speed of its predecessor while cutting overall power consumption by 30%, making it Apple's most energy-efficient modem to date—surpassing even the one used in the iPhone 16 Pro.