Apple Joins Industry Group Working Towards 6G

As noted by CNET, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) this week announced that Apple has joined its Next G Alliance, an industry group working to "advance North American mobile technology leadership in 6G and beyond over the next decade, while building on the long-term evolution of 5G."

Apple is one of 11 new members of the group alongside Charter, Cisco, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Keysight Technologies, LG, Mavenir, MITRE, and VMware.

The announcement provides more details about the Next G Alliance:

Designed to set the foundation for a vibrant marketplace for North American innovation in future generations of mobile technology, the Next G Alliance is named after its primary goal: to establish North American preeminence in the 5G evolutionary path and 6G development. Its work will encompass the full lifecycle of research and development, manufacturing, standardization and market readiness.

The Next G Alliance says it will be holding its first meeting for members on Monday, November 16 to set the initiative's overarching direction and strategy.

In September, AT&T said that it already has engineers working on next-generation 6G networking, but the technology is not expected to fully materialize for many years. Apple just released its first iPhones with support for 5G networks within the last month.