Certification filings for the Pixel 6 series went live yesterday on the FCC's website, just potential weeks before the phones' official launch. Google itself already revealed the most important details of the new Pixel 6 lineup, but there are still some details left to be confirmed. A litany of new Google smartphones were certified by the regulatory agency, with model numbers matching the leaked Pixel 6 series, and it seems that all models have WiFi 6E (6GHz WiFi) support. Some models have ultra-wideband (UWB) support, and some others also have mmWave 5G support, too.
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Snippets showing the supported wireless technologies and frequencies of the Pixel 6 series. Screenshots via Android Police
UWB support should not come as a surprise to our readers. As we reported earlier this year, Google has been working on UWB support, a short-range wireless communication protocol that’s useful for precisely tracking the location of nearby objects. An UWB chip can be found in phones by Samsung, Apple, and others to locate UWB-equipped trackers from the same companies, but we haven’t heard if Google plans to launch its own UWB tile tracker. However, we do know the company is working on digital car key support, which will let your Pixel unlock your car using either NFC or UWB. Thanks to our source, we learned that the Pixel 6 Pro comes preinstalled with a digital car key application, and the UWB hardware itself is provided by Qorvo.
Here is the list of Pixel 6 series model names that were certified by the FCC, as well as whether or not each model supports WiFi 6E or UWB.
|
Model |
mmWave 5G |
Ultra-wide Band |
WiFi 6E |
FCC Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
GLU0G |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
G8V0U |
Yes (n258, n260, n261) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
GF5KQ |
Yes (n258, n260, n261) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
G9S9B |
Yes (n260, n261) |
No |
Yes |
|
|
GB7N6 |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
|
GR1YH |
No |
No |
Yes |
Please note: for the above table, FCC ID A4RGLU0G covers both G8V0U and GF5KQ models. ID A4RGB7N6 likewise covers both GB7N6 and GR1YH. Not all models have mmWave 5G support, and not all models have ultra-wideband support either. It's possible that we might see mmWave versions of both the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro, and it could be that the regular Pixel 6 may lack the additional band n258 because of space constraints.
Overall, the certification filings clear up some questions, but it also raises others. All models have WiFi 6E support, but only some have UWB and/or mmWave 5G support.