Revived job listing hints iPhone with 802.11n Wi-Fi
updated 12:55 pm EST, Fri January 1, 2010
iPhone may join iPod touch with faster wireless
A tipster has recently unearthed an older job listing at Apple that suggests the iPhone is likely to get faster Wi-Fi, possibly soon as its next update. The hunt for a "Wifi Software Engineer" asks for a worker who could implement the 802.11a and 802.11n standards as well as the existing 802.11b/g found in the smartphone today. The electronics maker is clear to to note that this wouldn't be exclusive to one device as it would cover "mobile and phone products."
The faster 802.11n wireless standard has virtually no presence in handheld devices to date as it has often consumed too much battery life or physical space to be practical, but Apple has increasingly shown signs that it will soon migrate its devices to the roughly four times faster standard. It included firmware mentions as early as April and, in the third-generation 32GB and 64GB models, has actually used an 802.11n chip but left the faster speeds disabled. It's unknown why this is the case, though many have speculated that Apple is either still optimizing battery life and performance or else is concerned about cannibalizing iPhone sales by giving the iPod touch much faster local networking.
The relative age of the job listing along with Apple's expected late June WWDC event makes summer the most likely timeframe for a Wi-Fi upgrade to the iPhone and a possible firmware update to unlock the added speed for the iPod.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
I don't think that Apple
should be implementing WiFi n on any mobile devices unless there has been some major breakthrough on lowering power requirements or some startling new breakthrough on battery life. I doubt if any handheld device would benefit from anything more than b/g speeds. I find that I only need "n" speeds are when I'm large transferring files. I'd be surprised if Apple goes to "n" in the smaller handhelds. The tablet might be a different story due to greater battery capacity.