What you need to know
- The iPhone 13 may include Wi-Fi 6E.
- Analysts do not believe Apple release an iPhone SE Plus.
Reported by MacRumors, the iPhone 13 may support a new generation of Wi-Fi, according to Barclays. Analysts Blayne Curtis, Thomas O'Malley, and Tim Long say that the next-generation iPhone may support Wi-Fi 6E, bringing a number of performance gains to the lineup.
Wi-Fi 6E offers the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6, including higher performance, lower latency, and faster data rates, extended into the 6 GHz band. The additional spectrum will provide a lot more airspace beyond existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, resulting in increased bandwidth and less interference for devices that support Wi-Fi 6E.
Vijay Nagarajan, an executive at chipmaker Broadcom, says that the 6 GHz band could be the "most disruptive boon for Wi-Fi users in the last 20 years."
"The 6 GHz band will perhaps be the most disruptive boon for Wi-Fi users in the last 20 years ... This swath of spectrum, when coupled with Wi-Fi, will power new consumer experiences on smartphones, AR/VR devices and wearables we haven't even yet invented."
For those who have hoped for an iPhone SE Plus, the analysts seem confident that Apple has no plans to update or release a different version of the company's budget iPhone.
As for the iPhone SE, the analysts believe Apple has no plans to refresh the device in the foreseeable future. The analysts said that while they had heard about a potential larger-screen iPhone SE, rumored to feature a 5.5-inch or 6.1-inch display, the device was not mentioned in any of their discussions with Apple suppliers. In April, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the larger iPhone SE was delayed until the second half of 2021.
Regardless of what the iPhone 13 includes, it does appear that it will be released in September 2021 rather than in November of this year like the iPhone 12 lineup.
