Apple’s New M4 Macs Launch Without Wi-Fi 7 Support, Sticking to Wi-Fi 6E

As for Mac hardware announced today, Apple has introduced new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models powered by faster M4 chips with Thunderbolt 5 updates as well as nano-texture display options on some configurations.

Apple M4 Mac without Wi-Fi 7

Yet the long-awaited addition of support for the newest Wi-Fi moves was notably absent, as these Macs still only offer you Wi-Fi 6E. This version does allow access to the 6GHz band when connected to compatible Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers but doesn’t provide the latest technology available.

Apple may opt not to equip these new machines with Wi-Fi 7, a curious decision considering that all iPhone 16 models launched in September come equipped with Broadcom’s Wi-Fi 7 chips. The iPhones support the 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 standard with 2×2 MIMO, but there’s a limitation that somewhat mitigates the disappointment over the Macs not receiving Wi-Fi 7.

As per the Apple Wi-Fi specifications page, the Wi-Fi 7 chips fitted into iPhone 16 models have a maximum physical layer data rate of up to 2400Mb/s, and support for channel bandwidths of up to 160MHz, which aligns with the performance of the Wi-Fi 6E chips in the iPhone 15 Pro and M3 Mac models on 6GHz networks.

While Wi-Fi 7 improves maximum data rates on 5GHz bands relative to the use of Macs and iPads with Wi-Fi 6E chips, Apple is not supporting a native range to support full 320 MHz bandwidth that would generally mark out a single band. As a result, iPhone 16 models do not fully utilize the capabilities of Wi-Fi 7.

It is possible Apple could have added an uncut Wi-Fi 7 chip to the new M4 Macs, especially in those classified as an M4 Pro or higher-end like Max but that was apparently reserved. Seeing that many users hold onto their Macs for years at a time, it’s confounding why Apple didn’t think about future-proofing more in this respect.

The lack of Multi-Link Operation (MLO) could hamper gaming, streaming, and video conferencing performance — especially as networks become more complex. Potential buyers of the new M4 Macs should be aware that while these models feature Wi-Fi 6E, they miss out on the speed and latency improvements associated with Wi-Fi 7.

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