Apple is among several major U.S. tech firms petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to approve a limited form of 6-gigahertz Wi-Fi, spectrum also in demand with the cellular and utility industries.
It’s rare to see Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, HP, Qualcomm, Intel, Broadcom, and Marvell all on the same side of the aisle, but there’s at least one place they publicly agree: they want chips and devices that freely take advantage of a new frontier in Wi-Fi, without pesky licensing or regulatory restrictions and they’re telling the FCC they’ll need it to bring next-gen AR/VR glasses and data tethering to you.
Obviously, Wi-Fi chipmakers and hardware manufacturers don’t want just part of the 6GHz spectrum, so they’re pushing hard with potential solutions for that interference worry. One is a technique called Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC), which could theoretically detect and stop harmful interference… but requires that Wi-Fi devices be registered in a database, which they say might be a bit of work.
Apple and peers are requesting short-range, Very Low Power (VLP) transmissions over the spectrum without any other restriction for instance delivering 2-gigabit bandwidth at a range of 3 meters (9.8 feet). 5G is once again cited as a reason, in this case because devices like laptops and AR/VR headsets will need high-speed tethering to exploit 5G connections.
ven without an AR product, Mac and iPad owners will naturally want the option of full-speed 5G when tethering to future iPhones. The first 5G-capable iPhones are expected in the fall of 2020, using Qualcomm modems.
