This week, Apple announced the new M4-powered Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro. While featuring an upgraded processor and some novel updates, there’s one surprising omission. All three major products are confirmed to not support Wi-Fi 7 and instead continue leveraging Wi-Fi 6E.
According to Apple’s Wi-Fi specifications page, the Wi-Fi 7 capabilities, seen across iPhone 16 models, won’t include the new M4 Mac products. However, with the continued use of Wi-Fi 6E, the new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro will include access to the 6GHz band on supported Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers.
The iPhone 16 series features Wi-Fi 7 chips from Broadcom to support the 802.11be standard with max data rates of 2400 Mbps. Wi-Fi 7 supports up to 320MHz bandwidth, accommodating multiple devices. Apple, unfortunately, has a limited bandwidth support of 160MHz. Thus, even though the iPhone 16 does feature a Wi-Fi 7 chip, it doesn’t take full advantage of the technology.
The chips on the iPhone 16 do support Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for simultaneous connections to multiple bands. Unfortunately, for an undetermined reason, Apple has chosen not to include Wi-Fi 7 support on the new Mac products. This means that the M4-powered Macs will continue offering more limited functions while connecting to bands.
New M4 Mac products will continue to operate with 14 additional 80 MHz channels and 7 additional 160 MHz channels. This will still result in fast wireless speeds with 75 percent latency reductions when compared to Wi-Fi 5.
Image credit: Apple
Source: MacRumors
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