Opening thoughts. A 6G milestone has been achieved in Japan, with researchers from the Tokushima University finding a way to transmit data at a speed of 112 gigabits per second, or Gbps. This breakthrough is built on a newly developed terahertz wireless communication system driven by micro-combs—special photonic devices fitted onto microchips that generate optical frequencies for wireless networks. Achieving such speeds, at a frequency above 420GHz for the first time to be specific, indicates a way to negate limitations that often plague signal power and noise at higher frequencies—and that means slower data transmission rates.
6G is being pieced together in many countries, including the US and Japan, with conversations in India as well. While 5G is generationally much faster than 4G, with the likes of Reliance Jio’s AirFiber Max offering theoretical speeds of up to 1Gbps on their standalone 5G networks, scientists believe 6G can breach the 1Tbps or terabits per second speed mark. Commercial networks are expected to start coming to life sometime post 2030.
EDITOR’S MARGIN
APPLE’S PLAYING ITS CARDS, ABSOLUTELY RIGHT
While you can easily scoff and say it was long overdue, I’ll raise you a simple question—if this is so simple, why has no AI company so far, including Google, delivered such a contextually relevant integration of AI in any device thus far? During a technical deep dive with Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, he was asked a question—we didn’t hear much about agents (Federighi quipped that agents was in all-caps). Apple execs, and I love this, don’t hold back the witty responses when the situation so warrants it. Federighi’s response, “you guys obviously watched I/O. This is WWDC”, sending everyone in attendance in splits. While Apple execs went on to explain how agents fit into Apple’s AI vision, there is one clear theme from this WWDC—all the announcements are tailored to make tech work better for the humans who use the iPhone, iPad, Mac and so on. Here’s what stood out for me.
- This is Tim Cook’s last keynote as CEO, before he hands over the reigns of Apple Inc. to John Ternus. The tech giant has underlined a refreshed artificial intelligence (AI) strategy for the long term, perhaps a fitting bookend for Cook’s era at Apple. It sets them up for the AI game in particular.
- Focus areas are platform improvements, trust and safety, and what Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, calls a big leap forward for Siri. Apple insists parts of all operating systems have been reworked to improve responsiveness, which means iPhone and iPad apps can now launch up to 30% faster. That’s just one example.
- Apple’s refreshed artificial intelligence (AI) strategy finds the tech giant competing a jigsaw that was awaiting that moment for a while now. The new Apple Intelligence suite, of which the new Siri AI is a big part, requires deeper understanding.
- Apple has not wavered from its long-standing data privacy and security promise, despite the Google Gemini model infusion into the picture. One of the biggest questions emerging from the post keynote assimilation was this—quite how does the architecture shape up, particularly with Google’s Gemini models?
- Apple’s AI structure is built atop the company’s own Apple Foundation models. This is the third generation for these models, with the first generation from 2024 and the second generation arriving last year. There are two on-device models—the AFM 3 Core which has a 3-billion parameters dense model, as well as the AFM 3 Core Advanced which is a 20-billion parameter natively multimodal model that uses a sparse architecture to activate anywhere between 1-4 billion parameters at a time depending on type of request.
- There are three server-based models as well—the AFM 3 Cloud which Apple calls a server-side workhorse, optimized for speed, efficiency, and performance, the AFM 3 Cloud Pro for demanding use cases like agentic tool use and complex reasoning, and the ADM 3 Cloud (Image) for image generation and editing, which also unlocks advanced photo-editing tools in the iPhone.
- Google’s Gemini models, you ask? The key is, these are heavily customised Gemini models unlike anything Google is currently or has previously shipped for consumers. Secondly, Gemini models don’t directly power Apple Intelligence, but think of this as a licensing agreement to distill Gemini’s prowess for Apple Foundation models.
Our extensive coverage from Apple WWDC 26….
Read: Tim Cook’s final WWDC keynote sets Apple on a new AI course
Read: Inside Apple’s AI architecture: Custom Gemini, sparse models and divergence
Read: Parents are back in control as Apple bets on expanded Child Safety suite
Read: Apple’s quiet evolution is all about speed, nifty upgrades and practicality
Read: Tim Cook praises Indian student’s AI app inspired by grandmother’s struggle
GAMING RIG
F1 25: 2026 SEASON PACK REVIEW
A new game that isn’t a new game, and I had the chance to test this on the new Acer Predator Helios Neo 16s AI laptop. With the F1 25: 2026 Season Pack going Live, one gets the sense this is for video game completionists. This is a DLC, a gaming short for downloadable content ( ₹1,259 on EA Play, since I already have F1 25). Not a full new game, but bolts on to F1 25. In the time I played this game before shifting focus to all things WWDC, the underlying sentiment is clear—this edition isn’t without foibles but still incredible fun. EA Sports has of course given us the 2026 season spec cars including the Cadillac and Audi teams, Madrid’s “Madring” circuit (everyone will have their opinions on it; I notice massive scope for carnage) and all the battery shenanigans the real-world Formula 1 racing rules have added. There’s realism for sure.
Which also means that the ‘super-clipping’ scenario—where an F1 car can harvest half of the full throttle energy to recharge the battery pack due to the 50/50 split between engine and battery energy—will be apparent on track. In fact, it’ll often catch you off guard at the end of long straights when the car ahead of you slows down rapidly, such as the long back straight at Shanghai or towards the end of the Hangar Straight at Silvestone. Mastering battery and power unit balance will be key and a rather fun learning curve. Over enthusiasm with attack or defence, and you may be at 0% battery even before beginning a new lap at Interlagos.
The 2026 spec car handling is very, very different (read, much better; except in the wet which feels like perpetual aquaplaning) compared to the 2025 cars—and I’d notice this change, because I switched from that to this in the blink of an eye. EA has course-corrected, because the AI cars in F1 25 were unnaturally quick. This makes for a lot of fun wheel to wheel racing, which wasn’t possible with last year’s regulations. The power units sound different too, a lot more likeable.
EA Sports still needs to get some work done with the F1 25: 2026 Season Pack DLC.
- The Aston Martins are almost mid-field pace in the game, which is far from the reality. Equally, you’ll often find a Cadillac of Bottas or Perez somewhere in midfield, which again isn’t realistic in 2026.
- Secondly, team R&D hierarchies seem to have been drawn directly from the 2025 season, with McLaren still the fastest in the game instead of Mercedes. These two elements take away from evolving realism.
- While I understand that the 2027 game will be rebuilt from the ground up, there need to be penalties for late defensive moves in the braking zone (Antonelli and Hadjar’s AI seem to be doing it most).
- Don’t understand why the menu on the bottom right of the screen has to pop up when a new objective is being announced. You’re in the midst of defending the next chicane against the car behind, and suddenly the rearview is blocked.
- An unnatural number of very harsh corner cutting penalties on the Las Vegas circuit, but the absolute opposite at Madring (I don’t like the layout by the way; what’s that banking?)
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