While we are still many months away from the next generation ‘iPhone 13’ lineup, Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis, Thomas O’Malley, Tim Long and their associates have outlined a few expectations for the devices based on conversations with multiple Apple suppliers.
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First and foremost, the analysts said iPhone 13 models may support Wi-Fi 6E, which presents an opportunity for radio frequency chipmaker Skyworks.
Wi-Fi 6E offers the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6, including higher performance, lower latency, and faster data rates, extended to the 6 GHz band. The extra spectrum allows for much more air space beyond the existing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, resulting in greater bandwidth and less interference for devices that support Wi-Fi 6E.
“The 6 GHz band will be arguably the most disruptive boon to Wi-Fi users in the past 20 years,” Vijay Nagarajan, a manager at chipmaker Broadcom, said in January. “This spectrum, combined with Wi-Fi, will enable new consumer experiences on smartphones, AR / VR devices and wearables that we haven’t even invented yet.”
“The growth from Wi-Fi 6 to the 6 GHz spectrum is a game changer for two reasons: the availability of the additional channels and the ability to finally use 160 MHz for high-bandwidth applications such as AR and VR,” said Cisco director Jayanthi Srinivasan.
Both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 lineups support the standard version of Wi-Fi 6 without 6 GHz, as does the second-generation iPhone SE.
The analysts also indicated that audio chip maker Cirrus Logic will provide a new power conversion chip for at least some iPhone 13 models, although it is unclear whether this move would have any clear benefit to consumers.
As for the iPhone SE, the analysts believe that Apple has no plans to refresh the device in the near future. The analysts said that while they had heard of a possible iPhone SE with a larger screen, which is said to have a 5.5-inch or 6.1-inch display, the device was not mentioned in their conversations with Apple suppliers. . In April, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the larger iPhone SE was being delayed until the second half of 2021.
Barclays analysts were the first to claim that Apple was planning to stop including a charger with iPhones. In the past, they’ve also accurately revealed that True Tone is coming to the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, the removal of the headphone jack adapter on iPhone XS and iPhone XR models, and the removal of 3D Touch on all iPhone 11 models.