According to the latest rumors, iPhones 13 will have the latest in wireless data transmission, Wi-Fi 6e: here are the details and what it consists of
Apple is ready to introduce Wi-Fi 6e on iPhone 13, the latest evolution of the sixth generation of wireless data transmission technology. A great leap forward in terms of performance, of course with compatible devices that are currently not many but in the future will certainly be more widespread.
It will benefit, perhaps in some cases unwittingly, the buyers of the iPhone 13, range that will be made official as usual around mid-October. It will benefit even more all those buyers who buy a smartphone to keep it for a long time: Wi-Fi 6e is a recent technology, and if it should really be part of the technical equipment of the iPhone 13 as they say, then the next generation of smartphones with the Apple will gain in longevity, then in usability in the years to come. A bit like what happened and is happening with 5G, currently little exploited - at least in Italy - but with great future potential, and buying today a smartphone already compatible with 5G networks can be seen as an investment in the long run.
On iPhone 13 the latest Wi-Fi evolution
The presence of Wi-Fi 6e on board the iPhone 13 was to some extent anticipated by a recent DigiTimes report, in which the Taiwanese newspaper writes: "GaAs foundries IC Win Semiconductors and Advanced Wireless Semiconductor Company (AWSC), and GaAs supplier Visual Photonics Epitaxy Company (VPEC), according to industry sources, expect significant revenue growth in the second half of 2021 resulting from demand for the upcoming iPhones and related Wi-Fi 6e applications."
Apple, some will certainly remember, had already introduced Wi-Fi 6 with the iPhone 11s, and it was then maintained without any changes on the next generation. Wi-Fi 6e is the direct evolution that, in a nutshell, also includes the 6 GHz frequency band.
What is Wi-Fi 6e
Wi-Fi 6e is a technology that has many points of contact with Wi-Fi 6, if only because it is its direct evolution. The "e" stands for extended, in the sense that it is a Wi-Fi 6 with the extension of the band to 6 GHz thanks to 14 additional radio channels of 80 MHz each and another 7 channels of 160 MHz.
So, in summary, the main (and substantial) difference between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e is that the latter can use the 6 GHz frequencies. This brings a number of significant advantages: as the frequency increases, so does the amount of data that can be transmitted and latency decreases, i.e. the delay between input and reception of the response.
But not all that glitters is gold, so the 6 GHz band is faster than the others, but it also has disadvantages. The main one is the shorter range and suffering in front of walls, obstacles and barriers. In other words, the 6 GHz frequencies have a lower ability to penetrate obstacles, so they offer maximum performance in open spaces - free, therefore, of obstacles - or in the vicinity of the signal emitter.