What Wi-Fi 6E means for Apple's new Macs and the iPhone 15

New frequency spectrum means ter speed and better reliability.

- JASON CROSS

It was just a few short years ago when we told you about a then-upcoming wireless technology called Wi-Fi 6 (fave.co/3jFUzJn). At the time, what was once known as 802.11ax was henceforth given a much more consumer-friendly name, and previous convoluted Wi-Fi standards got similar names: 802.11ac became Wi-Fi 5, 802.11n became Wi-Fi 4, and so on.

And now we have an even newer name: Wi-Fi 6E. In short, it's an updated version of Wi-Fi 6 that includes access to the new 6GHz frequency band. But while it doesn't introduce new features over Wi-Fi 6, this new frequency band could be a big deal and will make a major impact on the future of wireless networking. Wi-Fi 6E is starting to show up in Apple products already; it's not in any iPhone yet, but you'll find it in the latest iPad Pros, the Mac mini, and the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. We'll likely find it in more Apple products released throughout 2023, including the iPhone 15.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT E?

It's hard to believe, but the Wi-Fi standard has been using the same chunks of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands for over 20 years! Wi-Fi 6 is just the latest attempt to use more advanced processing to wring more bandwidth out of it and make it more reliable.