Apple is working on 6G technology, new rumors claim

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According to recent job listings spotted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is currently attempting to hire engineers for the development of next-generation 6G wireless technology for future products.

Stated in the job announcement:

You will have the unique and rewarding opportunity to craft next generation wireless technology that will have a deep impact on future Apple products [...] In this role you will be at the center of a cutting-edge research group responsible for creating next generation disruptive radio access technologies over the next decade.

As cited by Bloomberg, the job listings are for positions at Apple's offices in Silicon Valley and San Diego, where the company primarily works on wireless technology development and chip design.

According to Bloomberg:

People hired for the positions will research and design next generation (6G) wireless communication systems for radio access networks [...] participate in industry/academic forums passionate about 6G technology.

Currently, 5G is still in the very early stages of development, and its implementation around the world is expected to take years. Considering this, 6G seems to be more like a concept and isn’t expected to roll out until somewhere around 2030. Even Apple’s job listings acknowledge this as a long-term futuristic project, describing it a next-gen technology spanning over a decade. Although Apple has only recently adopted 5G technology in its newest iPhone 12 series, the company seems to be very keen on developing 6G technology. Having said that, the upcoming technology is anticipated to allow speeds up to 100 times faster than 5G, but in order to accomplish this, a lot of the technology required for it still has to be figured out. This explains why Apple has published these new job listings so early, allegedly with the aim of getting involved at the earliest possible stages. AT&T also said back in September that its engineers are already working on the next-generation 6G networking. Last year, Apple joined the Next G Alliance which is an industry group set up by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) consisting of several members such as Google, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, LG, Cisco, Keysight Technologies, Charter, VMware, MITRE and Mavenir. The group’s main objective is to "advance North American mobile technology leadership in 6G and beyond over the next decade, while building on the long-term evolution of 5G."

The first meeting of Next G Alliance for its members was held in November last year, and that was to set the initiative's overarching direction and strategy. For the record, Apple’s new iPhone 12 models feature Qualcomm's 5G modems with support for sub-6 GHz (around the world) and mmWave (only in the U.S.). Likewise, the 2022 iPhones are expected to feature Qualcomm’s latest 10 Gbps 5G modems. Subsequent to that, Apple is expected to switch to it’s own in-house modems for all the iPhones thereafter, according to Barclays analysts and multiple other sources. This information correlates strongly with this recent move from Apple on the development of next-gen 6G technology.

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Published to Apple Scoop on 20th February, 2021.