The faster cellular data networks being rolled out now will bring tremendous benefits to Apple, according to a well-known industry analyst. Gene Munster even said today, “Apple will be one of 5G’s biggest beneficiaries.”

He listed a number of current and future products that will see gains from this nascent wireless tech.

“Apple has four initiatives that will materially benefit from 5G: iPhone, augmented reality, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles,” Muster said in a note to investors today.

No 5G iPhone? No problem

The analyst from Loop Ventures seems unconcerned that there probably won’t be a 5G iPhone on the market until before year, even as rival phone makers like Samsung and Huawei announce their first models.

Muster implies that Apple has plenty of time to get a handset with the new tech into customer hands, pointing out that “We expect it will take until the end of 2022 before 75% of the US population will have 5G service.”

He sees the significant reduction in latency promised by 5G radically changing future handsets in ways few expect now.  “Real-time data will allow new phone designs, new apps, off-device storage, and processing in the cloud for AI applications, game streaming, and other compute-intensive mobile use cases.”

5G advances many other products

The Loop Ventures analyst urged Apple investors to not  concentrate too much on phones. He said, “5G will enable or vastly improve augmented reality, wireless virtual reality, countless IoT and smart home applications, autonomous vehicles, and V2X communication, to name a few.”

Apple’s ARKit puts it at the leading-edge of augmented reality (AR) development. The company also supposedly has a secret team developing a set of AR glasses. People wearing these will need constant, fast access to the internet that will benefit from 5G.

Development of Apple’s self-driving vehicle hit a speed bump recently, but the company still appears committed to the project. Autonomous vehicles will depend on 5G for near instantaneous communication with other cars as well as servers with traffic info.

Apple has spent years integrating health-related features into its products. The most recent big change was building an ECG into the 2018 Apple Watch. Going forward, the company is widely expected to build health-monitoring features into upcoming AirPods wireless earbuds. It’s possible these could someday have their own 5G connection to the Net.

Via: Apple 3.0