The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will almost certainly be more powerful than their predecessors, but they could also support higher data speeds, if a recent leak is to be believed.
According to a report from DigiTimes (via MacRumors), both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will support Wi-Fi 7, which would be an upgrade from the Wi-Fi 6E support on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Wi-Fi 7 can be much faster than Wi-Fi 6E, with theoretical speeds of over 40Gbps, which is four times faster than what you can get with Wi-Fi 6E. And it’s not just faster, it also offers lower latency and higher reliability, for a smoother experience overall, which should be especially beneficial for online gaming and massive file downloads.
As always, we'd take this rumour with a grain of salt, but this isn't the first time we've heard of Wi-Fi 7 support, as back in October, Jeff Pu, an analyst at Haitong International Securities, made the same claim. Pu has a reasonable track record, and while it was very early days for iPhone 16 leaks, hearing the same spec again now suggests this information could well be accurate.
Only one part of the chain
Of course, in order to use Wi-Fi 7, your phone also needs to be connected to a router that supports it, and most don't yet. Plus, if you don't have a very high-speed internet plan, you won't be able to take full advantage of it either.
So for most people, the addition of Wi-Fi 7 will likely make the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max more future-proof, rather than providing huge benefits from day one, but it would still be a nice upgrade.
Whether we'll get an update remains to be seen, but we should find out in September, as that's when the iPhone 16 line will likely be introduced.
