Apple Seeks 6G Modem Engineers as It Plans for Post-5G iPhones

Tuesday October 20, 2026 4:46 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple is continuing to work on 6G, the successor to 5G that's on track to be ready sometime around 2030. Apple has been preparing for the eventual launch of the 6G standard since at least 2020.

apple silicon feature joeblue
Apple is hiring a 6G Cellular Modem Systems Engineer who will "define and build the next generation of cellular technology" as the company transitions to 6G. Apple designs its own modems now, so it will need to be ready when 6G rolls out.

6G is still under development. Spectrum bands haven't been established, and official performance requirements won't be formally approved until later this year. 6G goals include faster data upload speeds, lower latency, and better power efficiency. 5G is already used for home internet, and that will likely expand with 6G.

Companies like Apple, Qualcomm, Nokia, Samsung, and Ericsson are doing 6G research. Apple is a founding member of the Next G Alliance, an industry group established by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) to advance 6G in North America.

Tag: 6G

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Top Rated Comments

skiguy45

12 hours ago at 08:41 pm

5G was supposed to change the world ... whomp whomp.

It's a fine upgrade I guess, but hardly as revolutionary as it was billed to be.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Siliconguy

12 hours ago at 08:51 pm

Gee, I hope not. 5G doesn’t have anything close to the distance range of 4G does it?

Low frequency 5G (800 MHz) does, but it's only slightly faster than 4G. Better encoding does not let you sneak past Mr. Physics. From the internet:

5G Range by Frequency Band

* Low-Band (600–900 MHz): Reaches 3 to 10 miles. It travels the farthest and penetrates buildings well, offering speeds comparable to fast 4G.
* Mid-Band / Sub-6 GHz (1.7–3.8 GHz): Reaches 0.5 to 3 miles. It provides a balanced mix of high speeds and reliable coverage across suburban and urban zones.
* High-Band / mmWave (24–39 GHz): Reaches 300 to 2,000 feet (about 100 to 600 meters). It delivers multi-gigabit speeds but is easily blocked by glass, walls, trees, and bad weather.

6G will probably have the range of the old two cans and a string system.

Mr. Physics is actually named Nyquist in this case.
Nyquist tells us that we can transmit data at a rate of up to C = 2B log2(M)
Where C is bits per second, B is the bandwidth (in Hz) and M is the number of signal levels.

More bandwidth requires higher frequency.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)