According to the latest rumors, it is indicated that it is more than likely that iPhone 15 will be compatible with Wi-Fi 6E at its launch later this year, which would give (at least some of this year's iPhones, most likely the Pros) access to a whole new band of frequencies. And this is great news.
If the rumors are confirmed, this would mean a Increased transmission and reception capacity, reduced interference and better video transmission performance. Not inconsiderable features taking into account the multimedia use that can be given to the iPhone on a day-to-day basis (and even more so with Wi-Fi connectivity, presumably at home).
Wi-Fi 6E support on iPhone 15
As far as we have been able to inform ourselves, MacRumors has had access to a research note from Barclays which suggests that Apple is going to build support for the new standard into the upcoming iPhone 15. Despite indicating this, it does not specify if it is the entire range or only the two Pro models.
Apple has already introduced the Wi-Fi 6E standard in the latest iPad Pro models, in the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro and in the new Mac mini presented this month of January.
Confusing name of the new Wi-Fi 6E standard
As is often the case with technical standards, the nomenclature for the new Wi-Fi standard is quite confusing. Originally, Wi-Fi only worked on the 2,4 GHz band. This band offers limited speeds and is subject to microwave interference, for example.
The first big advance was to add access to the 5Ghz band (which almost all of us may have already met on our routers at home). This offers significantly higher capacity, less susceptibility to interference, reduced latency, and higher speeds against a shorter distance to the point of connection. The most recent change has been the addition of the 6GHz band to standard.
You might think that Wi-Fi 6 compatible devices would provide access to 6GHz Wi-Fi, but it doesn't work like that, that would be too logical for a technical standard. Access to 6Ghz spectrum requires support for Wi-Fi 6 Enhanced, better known as Wi-Fi 6E that would incorporate the iPhone 15.
Advantages of Wi-Fi 6E
The 6Ghz spectrum offers a number of advantages over the 5Ghz spectrum. First, it offers much more capacity. That means less congestion in cities and allows for wider channels, offering better connections for streaming video and virtual reality. Wi-Fi 6E quadruples the capacity, offering an additional 14 80 MHz channels and seven new 160 MHz channels.
In second place, there's no interference with anything else because the 6GHz band is reserved exclusively for Wi-Fi.
Third, the channels can be wider (speaking in the frequency spectrum), which means a Higher bandwidth for video streaming and other data-intensive applicationslike virtual reality. Speeds can exceed 1 gig, and latency can be less than a millisecond.
Drawbacks of Wi-Fi 6E
But unfortunately, not everything is good news regarding 6Ghz. First, you probably need a new router to take advantage of it. Very few of today's wireless routers support Wi-Fi 6E, so you'll probably have to upgrade to a new one.
In second place, Wi-Fi 6E has a shorter range than the old Wi-Fi 6, and it is also easier to block by physical structures (for example by the walls of our houses, in the same way that occurs with the change between the 2,4 network and the 5Ghz network). So if you live in a house with thick walls, performance is likely to be affected. Wi-Fi 6E coverage may also not extend as far outside the home, in backyards and gardens.
However, in practice it is not a big problem, since the coverage is reduced to the 5 GHz range.
As always, incorporating new technology is great news for iPhones, but always we must take into account when we will be able to take advantage of it and when not in our day to day to be able to squeeze our devices to the maximum.
