It’s only the start of the year but of course, rumours are already swirling about regarding this year’s iPhone. The latest speculation comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who claims that Apple will adopt the Wi-Fi 6E standard for the iPhone 15, in line with its other recent products.
Support for Wi-Fi 6E on iPhones seems inevitable given how it is already enabled on last year’s 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro tablets as well as the 2023 Mac mini and MacBook Pro models. Kuo isn’t the only one expecting Apple to make the upgrade as Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O’Malley made a similar claim in their latest research note earlier this week.
The current iPhone 14 lineup only supports up to Wi-Fi 6 which still uses 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, whereas Wi-Fi 6E uses the 6GHz band that allows for faster speeds, more bandwidth, lower latency, and less signal interference. That being said, you would need a Wi-Fi 6E router to take advantage of this if you own a device that supports the wireless standard.
Additionally, Kuo said the tech giant has halted the development of its in-house Wi-Fi chip, although he did not detail the reason behind this alleged decision. If true, this would mean that Broadcom will continue supplying Apple with Wi-Fi chips for the foreseeable future, including the iPhone 15 series and beyond.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was working on a combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip to replace Broadcom parts by 2025. This development is separate from the 5G modem that the Cupertino firm is building, which came after it acquired Intel’s 5G modem business.
Other rumours that have recently surfaced about the upcoming iPhone 15 lineup include taptic buttons, a titanium frame, and an increase in RAM. It is speculated to run on the A17 Bionic chip based on 3nm technology and quite possibly, it might be the first iPhone to be equipped with USB-C, although Apple could still push this to next year’s models instead.
