Wi-Fi 6E is coming

© Wi-Fi Alliance.

The first Wi-Fi 6E-compatible devices should start hitting the market this year. The Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry-wide group that oversees Wi-Fi, is now starting to certify the first wave of products with support for Wi-Fi 6E, including phones, laptops, TVs and routers. Version 6E, which operates on the 6GHz band of the spectrum, provides a much larger bandwidth than version 6 (2,4 and 5GHz). It promises a high-speed connection with reduced latency. The 6GHz band is already open for unlicensed use in many places throughout the world, including the United States, Europe, Great Britain, Chile and South Korea. However, in Canada, the process of opening up the spectrum is still in the consultation phase (Canada is glacial in many ways…). Some of the first devices that support 6E will probably be unveiled next week. At CES, which starts on January 11, router manufacturers will be providing previews of this year’s products. Samsung is also getting set to unveil its next flagship phones, the Galaxy S21 series, which probably support WiFi 6E thanks to the Snapdragon 888 processor, a chip should also grace many other high-end Android phones this year. Broadcom, Apple’s supplier of network chips, has promised 6E solutions in the coming months. We hope this means 6E-enabled iPhone 13 and Mac devices.

⇨ YouTube, “Wi-Fi 6E: Expanding Wi-Fi into 6 GHz spectrum.”

⇨ The Verge, Jacob Kastrenakes, “Wi-Fi’s biggest upgrade in decades is starting to arrive.”

2021-01-07