
Apple could be planning to introduce Li-Fi technology to its range of phones and tablets in the future, with speculation that the technology could be on the iPhone 7.
Li-Fi is being billed as both a potential successor to Wi-Fi and a complimentary technology, but there are still problems to iron out, such as light not being able to travel through solid walls, which means devices in a home could only connect if they were in direct line of sight of each other. There are security benefits to this though, as it means networks can be confined to single rooms, making them much more secure.
Li-Fi technology research has become public in recent years. The Daily Mailreports that scientists have "taken to the streets" to test out Li-Fi capabilities, and it has recently undergone initial workplace testing in Estonia, being used in certain offices and industrial settings around the country's capital Tallinn.
But The Mirror weighs in on the wild speculation by saying we will have to wait a little bit longer for Li-Fi to become a viable source of super-fast data transfer, pointing out that researchers say the technology will be "ready for commercial use by the end of the decade" - so think more iPhone 9 or 9S.
According to Business Insider, Apple has been interested in developing Li-Fi capabilities for future iPhones for a few years now. The site points out that in 2013 the company filed a patent outlining an "optical modulation using an image sensor" which would use the camera fitted on the rear of the iPhone to transmit data via light. Business Insider also reaffirms that the technology is still some years off, saying that the complete absence of Li-Fi equipped devices on the market at the moment means there is little to compare Apple's ambitions to.