Next year’s iPhone lineup might feature WiFi 6E connectivity.
The iPhone 12 lineup hasn’t been out all that long (at least not completely), but analysts are already looking ahead to the iPhone 13. And according to a few at Barclays, Apple may make a significant upgrade to Wi-Fi in its upcoming iPhones.
The latest from Barclays analysts Thomas O’Malley, Blayne Curtis, Tim Long, and their associates was first detailed today by MacRumors. Their report indicates that Apple is going to adopt a “game-changing” upgrade for Wi-Fi, adding support for Wi-Fi 6E in the iPhone 13 lineup. The analysts were able to come to these conclusions based on conversations they had with multiple Apple suppliers.
It’s easy to confuse WiFi 6E with WiFi 6, but these are two different types of WiFi standards. A WiFi 6 enabled device, like the current-gen iPhone 12 series and even the older iPhone SE and iPhone 11, support only 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. A WiFi 6E-enabled device would support the newer 6GHz band, along with 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
While the standard for WiFi 6 is yet to be published, the 6GHz band will bring-in faster data speeds (up to 9.6Gbps) and wider channels for faster connectivity.
Barclays also said that Cirrus Logic will supply a new power conversion chip for at least some iPhone 13 models and indicated that Apple has no plans to refresh the iPhone SE in the foreseeable future. There have been rumored of an iPhone SE with a larger display; however, that was not mentioned in any discussions with Apple suppliers.
