Apple’s next iPhone, tipped to be named the iPhone 12, has already attracted lots of noise surrounding its features – mostly involving its expected support for 5G networks.But now, a new report from Japanese tech blog, Macotakara, suggests the iPhone 12 could receive a significant improvement in Wi-Fi performance as well.
Apple’s next smartphone lineup is reportedly set to include support for the 802.11ay Wi-Fi standard – which uses faster 60GHz millimetre wave spectrum instead of the 2.5GHz and 5GHz bands that are used regularly in lots of today’s Wi-Fi routers.
But the phone does have considerable limitations – the device struggles with moving through structures like walls and furniture, as reported by Ars Technica, making it ideal for short-range connections to devices located in the same room only.
Putting this compromise aside, it could make the iPhone ideal for bringing in improved augmented reality – a technology that Apple CEO Tim Cook has, in the past, expressed excitement about.
Apple has declined to comment on the details of this story.
Qualcomm, however, has already been in the works for bringing this standard to mobile devices – it announced new mobile chipsets that supported this standard back in 2018, for example.
As noted by Qualcomm at the time, 802.11ay’s potential for delivering fast, low-latency connections over short distances could prove handy for game streaming, virtual and augmented reality and more advanced location detection.
Those qualities could be even more important for Apple’s next smartphone, as rumors suggest augment reality is set to play a big role.
Apple is also reportedly planning to outfit its next iPhone and iPad Pro products with depth-sensing cameras that will have an improved ability to scan the real world and recreate it digitally for augmented reality, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Apple ramping up its camera specs and functions will also be imperative to its success this year, after Samsung released a brilliant camera with 100x zoom capabilities alongside 8K video recording in its S20 flagship range.
Additionally, 802.11ay Wi-Fi networks are said to have qualities that could be greatly useful in virtual reality and augmented reality applications.
Beyond Apple’s interest in augmented and virtual reality, the iPhone 11 illustrates how Apple is transitioning its technological development by designing more intelligence into the iPhone, particularly with special awareness.
The iPhone 11 range comes equipped with Ultra Wideband technology, which Apple describes as ‘GPS at the scale of your living room.’
The immediate benefit to a technology development such as this is the faster transfers through AirDrop, the feature created to enable Apple users to transfer files wirelessly.
The tech giant is also rumoured to have developed wireless tags for missing keys and other similar objects that can be tracked through an iPhone, called AirTags.
Beyond support for 5G and 802.11ay Wi-Fi, the upcoming iPhone is speculated to come with a revamped design, OLED screens across all models and a fingerprint sensor built into its display.
