iPhone 15 Pro Expected to Feature Wi-Fi 6E: Here's What That Means

[MacRumors]

Apple plans to add Wi-Fi 6E support to some of its latest iPhones, according to a research note today from Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O'Malley. Wi-Fi 6E is rumored to be limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are expected to stick with regular Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi 6E will allow for faster and more reliable wireless connectivity on iPhone 15 Pro models. Below, we have shared more details about the standard.

What is Wi-Fi 6E?

Wi-Fi 6 operates on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, while Wi-Fi 6E also works over the 6GHz band for increased bandwidth. Wi-Fi 6E offers faster wireless speeds, lower latency, and less signal interference, so long as a supported device is connected to a Wi-Fi 6E router, which are available from brands like TP-Link, Asus, and Netgear.

Apple has a support document with some additional details about Wi-Fi 6E.

Apple Devices With Wi-Fi 6E

Apple has already added Wi-Fi 6E to a handful of iPad Pro and Mac models since last year:

• 11-inch iPad Pro (2022)
• 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022)
• 14-inch MacBook Pro (2023)
• 16-inch MacBook Pro (2023)
• Mac mini (2023)
• Mac Studio (2023)
• Mac Pro (2023)

The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max would be the first iPhones with Wi-Fi 6E support, as the iPhone 14 lineup is limited to regular Wi-Fi 6.

Article Link: iPhone 15 Pro Expected to Feature Wi-Fi 6E: Here's What That Means

 

[Justin Cymbal]

I’m definitely looking forward to getting this year’s iPhone 15 Pro

Wi-Fi 6E will be incredible and I hope that it brings more energy efficiency to the battery life as well

I’m currently using eero routers for my home Wi-Fi which is Wi-Fi 6E compatible but I would definitely like for Apple to possibly bring back the Airport routers in the future because those work so much better with Apple products

 

[bkaus]

Wifi 6E would be great. But it generally has lower range, especially where there are lots of walls. So at home it might help on the main room with the AP but perhaps not throughout the house.

 

[killhippie]

6E is pointless on a phone and if you’ve got people furniture walls or you sneeze between your device and router, you won’t get a signal probably as 6E travels less far than Wi-Fi 5 5Ghz so lots of people will be complaining why have I got no Wi-Fi signal I imagine this year. If they’ve got a Wi-Fi 6E router of course. Also Wi-Fi 7 is coming out 2024 with clients I imagine in 2025. 6E will be the shortest lived Wi-Fi standard seen so far.

 

[Rychiar]

Better late than never

 

[magbarn]

I’m definitely looking forward to getting this year’s iPhone 15 Pro

Wi-Fi 6E will be incredible and I hope that it brings more energy efficiency to the battery life as well

I’m currently using eero routers for my home Wi-Fi which is Wi-Fi 6E compatible but I would definitely like for Apple to possibly bring back the Airport routers in the future because those work so much better with Apple products

Unless they changed the firmware recently, I ended up returning my Eero 6E mesh system as it doesn’t allow you to create a seperate ssid for the 6E band. My 6E devices almost never connected at 6E with the Eero.

 

[Frankfurt]

Unless they changed the firmware recently, I ended up returning my Eero 6E mesh system as it doesn’t allow you to create a seperate ssid for the 6E band. My 6E devices almost never connected at 6E with the Eero.

eero 6e works flawless in my home on 6GHz band with my iPad Pro. Certainly depends on the build of the home. However, in my use case I get great coverage throughout the entire home.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Not the only reason to get a new phone, but still a nice feature

 

[dynamojoe]

I would definitely like for Apple to possibly bring back the Airport routers in the future because those work so much better with Apple products

Hear hear!

I'm struggling with a last-gen Time Capsule that has suddenly decided that it doesn't want to be a DHCP server anymore. I've got it in bridge mode now but the writing is on the wall - it's days are numbered. I hope Apple resurrects the product line.

 

[Stromos]

Wifi6E is pretty much useless since you have to setup a seperate SSID with WPA3 for 6E.

 

[EugW]

I haven't cared about WiFi speeds since 802.11ac (WiFi 5) was released.

 

[WaxedJacket]

Sounds great n all but they'll have to take my Airport Extreme out of my cold dead hands.

 

[xpxp2002]

Huh. I could've sworn that the iPhone 14 introduced Wi-Fi 6E support.

 

[daneoni]

Huh. I could've sworn that the iPhone 14 introduced Wi-Fi 6E support.

6 not 6E

Also isn't 6Hz even more fragile than 5GHz. Like you have to very close or it doesn't work at all.

Personally opted for a WiFi 6 setup at home instead of 6E, and will check again when WiFI 7 comes out.

 

[xpxp2002]

6 not 6E

Also isn't 6Hz even more fragile than 5GHz. Like you have to very close or it doesn't work at all.

Personally opted for a WiFi 6 setup at home instead of 6E, and will check again when WiFI 7 comes out.

The iPhone 13 supports Wi-Fi 6. I specifically meant 6E support being introduced with the iPhone 14.

And yes, 6 GHz is going to have slightly more attenuation through objects than 5 GHz. But it shouldn't be significant. Personally, given how congested both legacy bands are in my neighborhood, I'd much rather have access to the greenfield spectrum and be future-proofed for 6E on the AP side.

All this stuff moves at a snail's pace. I don't expect an iPhone that supports Wi-Fi 7 to arrive for at least another 3 years.

 

[Vandam500]

That'll be a good feature. I get insane speeds on 6E on my Pixel Fold and S22 Ultra.

 

[k1121j]

It’s good to note that 6Ghz band is only good for those close to the AP and with no walks or obstacles in the way. Otherwise it’s great love my ORBI 960 mesh 6E setup.

 

[daneoni]

The iPhone 13 supports Wi-Fi 6. I specifically meant 6E support being introduced with the iPhone 14.

And yes, 6 GHz is going to have slightly more attenuation through objects than 5 GHz. But it shouldn't be significant. Personally, given how congested both legacy bands are in my neighborhood, I'd much rather have access to the greenfield spectrum and be future-proofed for 6E on the AP side.

All this stuff moves at a snail's pace. I don't expect an iPhone that supports Wi-Fi 7 to arrive for at least another 3 years.

14 doesn't support 6E is what i meant.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I always thought the Pro lineup of the iPhone 14 was WiFi 6E already.

 

[lenard]

I got the Eero Pro 6E mesh system. On my iPad Pro (2022) which has 6E
I get almost all the speed my internet offers (1gig) and its pretty much
thru out the house. Now every house is different so YMMV.

 

[EugW]

I always thought the Pro lineup of the iPhone 14 was WiFi 6E already.

It is not. It is WiFi 6.

P.S. This is "just" 802.11ac / WiFi 5 on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. The phone supports WiFi 6 but my AirPort Extreme does not.

Bottleneck is actually the internet access since it maxes out at 600/35 Mbps. (I'm on 500/30 internet service.)

 

[Powerbooky]

OK... "less signal interference"? No... 2.4GHz was without interference when the first AirPort unit was released. 5GHz same thing and 6GHz too.

Once 2.4GHz was still very empty around 2002-2004. That gradually went down hill when more wifi AP's, bluetooth, DECT, Zigbee and other stuff came along. Today in dense residential or commercial areas, the 2.4GHz band is just usable for low-bandwidth purposes, like IoT devices, on a single channel setting (20MHz only).

The same has happend with the 5GHz band. Especially the last couple of years thanks to the exorbitant use of repeaters and mesh-type wifi it is crowed.

The 6GHz band will go the same path. Plaster walls and ceiling indeed limit the range more on 6GHz and I'm afraid that this will cause people to buy even more repeaters. Hence introducing even more interference on all bands. I have a neighbour that has done just that - most of them set on the same channel. And he wonders why he doesn't have lightning speed internet with multiple repeaters on every floor. 🤦‍♂️

Fortunately 802.11ax and a bit less 802.11ac do have protocols/modulation options to compensate much of the transmission errors due to all the interference. Wifi 7 promises even more, but we'll have to see how this will work out in the wild.

 

[rotax]

For us Apple users it seems like the WiFi landscape has become a bit of a mess to me. In Homekit most devices only use the 2.4 ghz band making a Single SSID for multiple bands unusable. Setup always fails as the phone WiFi information passed to the device is for a non-2.4 band. So then we have to split out SSIDs by band which seems to defeat devices auto switching to a band within a single SSID that is best in your location, routers calling this band steering. Then we have HomeKit routers which sound great along with WPA3, but there are few of them. Homekit devices do not support WPA3. Isolating HomeKit devices on a Guest Network and blocking communication between them and the main network throws up messages in the Home app that a device is not on the same network as the iPhone, mostly HomePods or devices eligible for Airplay and asks to update the device to the same network as the iPhone. I am sure there are other issues, but it would be nice if these were cleaned up.

 

[RalfTheDog]

The signal not going as far is a good thing. It limits interference from nearby houses. If you want a truly great wireless internet system, run hard lines to your mesh points. You get the advantage of less penetration through walls and you get fast access to all the points in your house.

 

[xpxp2002]

The 6GHz band will go the same path. Plaster walls and ceiling indeed limit the range more on 6GHz and I'm afraid that this will cause people to buy even more repeaters. Hence introducing even more interference on all bands.

The only advantage being that people's poor decisions stay contained within their own property. 2.4 GHz is low enough that it bleeds out several houses away on each side and through the back yards of homes near me. 5 GHz tends to fade about one house away. Hopefully 6 GHz should be contained to one's own home, so their poor Wi-Fi configuration won't affect anybody else.