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iPhone 13 Lineup May Support Game-Changing Wi-Fi 6E, Larger iPhone SE Unlikely in Early 2021
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Given data requirements of most applications, I wouldn't expect 6E to be a compelling draw. Frankly, when I use wifi, my biggest misgivings are wifi signal strength dropouts in a space drastically affecting any connectivity, not inability to match theoretical 433Mbps transfers.
6E has a shorter range than 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Therefore a backplane for a mesh network I suspect might need to be wired to ensure connectivity. That coverage likely will still run short of 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, and because you will likely need at least triple band routers/repeaters for old and new broadcast ranges, that's a significant cost. Good to futureproof of course, but until there's a compelling application with real world example, I'm not certain this is solving any issue yet, and likely introducing a few more until all devices support the standard. But... gotta start somewhere I suppose.
6E has a shorter range than 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Therefore a backplane for a mesh network I suspect might need to be wired to ensure connectivity. That coverage likely will still run short of 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, and because you will likely need at least triple band routers/repeaters for old and new broadcast ranges, that's a significant cost. Good to futureproof of course, but until there's a compelling application with real world example, I'm not certain this is solving any issue yet, and likely introducing a few more until all devices support the standard. But... gotta start somewhere I suppose.
“Everybody”? Who’s this “everybody”. A lot of people couldn’t care less about the number 13, except as a joke.
Meh.
this won’t matter until WiFi 7 standard is released and routers hit the market. I don’t expect that to happen till at least 2026
this won’t matter until WiFi 7 standard is released and routers hit the market. I don’t expect that to happen till at least 2026
Saying it doesnt bother you doesn’t mean you like it. I’m sure you’ll be happy when it’s gone. It doesn’t bother me much either I live with it because I have no choice. But I’ll be happy when the top matches the bottom.
„Game changing“ for who? I personally plug in my router, enter the WiFi password to connect my devices and I am happy I have internet. Happy to never bothering with the router again
In addition, how many places with current wifi infrastructure in place will spend the money to rip out and replace a system that is quite acceptable for a new one with limited benefit? It's a lot like 5G now - you may future proof your phone a bit but there is no compelling reason to upgrade for that feature alone. I upgraded to a 12 because, after rebates and some line changes was able to get a 12Pro Max for an extra $5 a month to replace an 8.
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Wish the marketing guys would take a beat and think about their branding. Either go with all caps or don't. Either go with "I" or don't.
Personally, I think the branding is great. Now get them all aligned.
tv
watch
music
news
...
phone
Personally, I think the branding is great. Now get them all aligned.
tv
watch
music
news
...
phone
Yep. Most aren't going to immediately upgrade their wifi to take advantage. We have Wifi 6 at my office, its nice, but going from 802.11AC to Wifi 6 hasn't made us any more sales or increased our productivity. Calling it a game changer is a misunderstanding of how these systems are used.
This is THE question you should be asking.
The immediate benefit goes to all in one solutions that currently have bandwidth limitations or frequency overlap. Right now you use a Quest 2 wireless to a PC, and while it's good there is still noticeable lag in fast paced games. With wireless PC to VR you are unlikely to be sending the content more than a room or two away from the PC powering it. So this would be a game changer for that use case.
For people that live in small apartments with 1000's of nearby tenants this would be a game changer. These units tend to be in areas that have large populations which and can justify ISP's investing in high bandwidth but because of all the overlap of wifi signals there is enough interference to make the experience sub-optimal for the user. That may seem like 'just and improvement' but for people who can't work from home because they can't reliably use their internet access it would be a game changer.
It will also be a game changer for businesses that have a lot of IOTs or is population dense such that users are all trying to connect at once within a small geographic area. For the same reasons I just mentioned. AR will eventually be mainstream and it will likely involve combining the VR solution mentioned above with the high population density issue I also mentioned. But, imagine being able to use your phone to look at something in a store and getting real time information about how it works, inventory levels, sales/promos, information about other relevant items that might be in the store, and be able to 'virtually open the package' in store without actually damaging the packaging or item. Now put this into glasses that don't have the on board processing to handle this without the use of nearby servers. Just an idea.
What you won't see is value connecting to the internet, especially if WiFi 6 already solve the congestion issue or if your ISP can't deliver > 1000 mbps connections.
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wifi 6 or 6E on your device will of course require a router, so there is only benefit when you upgrade your home network as well ... I've upgraded my home about 3 years ago with an Amplifi mesh network and I am very happy with the performance ... I would not consider upgrading just because an iPhone could support more than AC, computer and AppleTV would need that add bandwidth, so there is time, at least for me but YMMV
Apple needs a folding phone asap. My friend has the Galaxy Fold 2 and it is very impressive, even for a garbage Android device.
Ok some high level technical overview,
Pointing out the obvious, it was Broadcom announcement [1] that literally confirms this ( So this "news" isn't really "new" ). Being out early this year ( 2020 ) meant it will make it in time for 2021 iPhone.
This is on 7nm in case you are wondering. And yes, this is expected due to the complexity of WiFi 6E.
WiFi 6E, is basically Full WiFI 6 + 6Ghz Spectrum. This is a new spectrum that is dedicated only to WiFI 6. The keyword is only, because there will be no interference like on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz with neighbours having older WiFi signal downgrading your experience.
It also brings the opportunity for vendors ( And AFAIK, ALL vendors ) to properly implement WiFi 6 Spec. Things like OFDMA there were not enabled on early version, 160Mhz Channel, 80+80Mhz Operation etc. ( It doesn't mean WiFi 6 is no good, it is just the first version was over promised and under deliver, at least by main stream media )
So you can think of WiFI 6E as really the original WiFi 6 we were promised. And you should finally be able to get over 1Gbps WiFi Speed in real world in an ideal situation.
And in case you missed the news, all M1 Mac, Macbook and Mac Mini only has 2x2 Antenna, unlike their predecessor with 3x3. WiFi 6E will partly solve that problem.
That is all the good news, now the bad news.
6Ghz Spectrum is only available in the US. With pretty much all other parts of the world not decided or wont make it in time for iPhone 13 debut. Which means just like 5G mmWave, it could be a US only again.
And because of regulation, normally the Phone / Tablet has go through certification before supporting 6Ghz. Which means you cant expect to have 6Ghz "turn on" later via Software update once the regulations are in place.
And of course, you WILL need a WiFi 6E router to enjoy all the advantage.
[1] https://www.broadcom.com/company/news/product-releases/52926
Pointing out the obvious, it was Broadcom announcement [1] that literally confirms this ( So this "news" isn't really "new" ). Being out early this year ( 2020 ) meant it will make it in time for 2021 iPhone.
This is on 7nm in case you are wondering. And yes, this is expected due to the complexity of WiFi 6E.
WiFi 6E, is basically Full WiFI 6 + 6Ghz Spectrum. This is a new spectrum that is dedicated only to WiFI 6. The keyword is only, because there will be no interference like on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz with neighbours having older WiFi signal downgrading your experience.
It also brings the opportunity for vendors ( And AFAIK, ALL vendors ) to properly implement WiFi 6 Spec. Things like OFDMA there were not enabled on early version, 160Mhz Channel, 80+80Mhz Operation etc. ( It doesn't mean WiFi 6 is no good, it is just the first version was over promised and under deliver, at least by main stream media )
So you can think of WiFI 6E as really the original WiFi 6 we were promised. And you should finally be able to get over 1Gbps WiFi Speed in real world in an ideal situation.
And in case you missed the news, all M1 Mac, Macbook and Mac Mini only has 2x2 Antenna, unlike their predecessor with 3x3. WiFi 6E will partly solve that problem.
That is all the good news, now the bad news.
6Ghz Spectrum is only available in the US. With pretty much all other parts of the world not decided or wont make it in time for iPhone 13 debut. Which means just like 5G mmWave, it could be a US only again.
And because of regulation, normally the Phone / Tablet has go through certification before supporting 6Ghz. Which means you cant expect to have 6Ghz "turn on" later via Software update once the regulations are in place.
And of course, you WILL need a WiFi 6E router to enjoy all the advantage.
[1] https://www.broadcom.com/company/news/product-releases/52926
Game changing ..... for maybe 1% of iPhone users. Most users could not tell you which version of WiFi they are using. They dont know the difference between the bands, much less the WiFi standards. Also, most of the time I have any issues with anything loading, its due to the other end, not mine. I think that is the case for most users. If I have a 1gig connection, and my wifi is slowing that to 300, but the site/movie/update I am requesting still only gives me a few megs a second, what have I achieved?
I can see this being maybe beneficial for businesses or places that provide wifi and have a lot of connections through a single internet connection but again this will not be useful any time soon until more devices (or even the first device) gets 6E
I can see this being maybe beneficial for businesses or places that provide wifi and have a lot of connections through a single internet connection but again this will not be useful any time soon until more devices (or even the first device) gets 6E
This is a valid consideration. I know many of our work-from-home employees at my company are still using 802.11g/n routers from 2010-2014. They don't realize that this is partly the reason their connectivity is slow or poor, along with the older routers having very poor "auto" channel selection.
Likewise, my last employer who had retail Wi-Fi ran old 802.11g APs through at least 2017. They wanted to offer better performance to customers, but it's free Wi-Fi. At the end of the day, free Wi-Fi almost never pays for itself and they couldn't stomach dropping hundreds of dollars per location to upgrade retail-enterprise-grade APs for dual-band 802.11n/ac units. They'd run them until they died, then pushed for free warranty replacements until the manufacturer stopped supplying refurbs. It's going to be 2030 before most companies have 802.11ax, let alone 6E.