Apple has one eye on Li-Fi for the iPhone 7
Super-fast wireless tech support found in iOS code
The iPhone 6S is already a pretty zippy phone, but Apple could about to blow it out of the water with a super-charged successor.
A tweet from jailbreaker @ktyofujibaya shows a mention of Li-Fi within the code for iOS 9.1, suggesting Apple is already hard at work adding support for the future-proof wireless tech – even though its current phones don’t have the hardware needed to get it working.
That can only mean Apple is looking to add it to the iPhone 7, which is almost definitely going to launch in September.
Li-Fi is essentially a faster version of Wi-Fi, using infra-red and near ultraviolet spectrum instead of radio frequency waves to reach colossal speeds. Prototype hardware has already clocked an incredible 224 GIGABITS per second – that’s 100x the speed of the fastest Wi-Fi networks.
The same hacker also found references to headphones in the beta code for iOS 9.3, which could confirm Apple is getting ready to ditch the 3.5mm audio jack in favour of its proprietary Lightning port.
Apple and Beats are apparently working together on a set of wireless earbuds, which can be charged by a protective carrying case. It would have its own battery too, so you don’t have to be plugged in all the time to keep listening. If the rumours are true, they should launch alongside the new iPhone.
Don’t ditch your old headphones just yet, though – nothing’s confirmed until Apple makes it official later in the year.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
