Yes, but the world of bandwidth capacity is quickly advancing. Shouldn’t such a large company like Apple take a shot at creating a successor to their aging router?
That’s the million dollar question. If I am remembering correctly, Apple were big on wifi when it was still in its infancy so it made sense back then for them to build something good. But at some point there was so much “industry” around it, maybe they thought they couldn’t do anything to make things materially “better” any more.
Would I like them to? Probably. Would I buy one in the next 5-10 years? Unlikely unless they can make me want it over and above what I have now which, as mentioned, I don’t even think about 99% of the time because it just works.
The WiFi industry has changed a lot since then. Fiber optic is becoming more common and mainstream, not to mention that standards like WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E are sorely missing from Apple’s latest AirPort router. WiFi 5 was great in 2013, but it’ll begin to feel stale (for a lack of a better term) nearly a decade later. Gigabit WiFi and multi-gigabit speeds in general are a breakthrough for the industry. I don’t get why Apple would want to miss out on what is essentially a newly discovered gold mine.
What about one that is even better in general? Apple is practically the king of that term! 
Oh, nice!
Maybe they’re going back to more Jobsian ways of concentrating on what they do best or can contribute the most to.
BTW, the M1 Macs include Wifi 6 so they do know it exists at least.
I am not even sure if demand for WiFi6 is high.
I did a quick scan of the networks in my vicinity. Mine is the only one running on 5GHz (and I am not going to tell). And I also see that almost every router is from the provider.
Network usage increased hugely with Corona. And there were a lot of issues: Netflix even had to lower their quality/resolution because the servers couldn’t keep up. Internet became slower. But none of those problems had anything to do with the routers people have at home. Ok, sometimes having too many devices in the network was a problem, but not because of any WiFi-specification, but because cheap routers are severely underpowered (CPU, backplane,…). In theory, WiFi6 will do better. But WiFi5 mesh also does better.
Now, we are “power-users” and want the newest and shiniest. But, right now with Wifi5, working from home through a VPN, watching 4K, gaming…nothing has hit the limits of Wifi5. So, what would be the selling point?
With any Wifi moving beyond 1GB/s…I will have a problem, because my main ethernet router is a 1Gb one. I am using port trunking to attach the NAS with 2x1Gb, but everything else is 1Gb. The WAN bridge also is only 1Gb. So the “new Wifi”, if significantly faster that 1Gb, would also mean going the full 10Gb route.
That said, if Synology updates the RT2600ac for a WiFi6 model, of course I will buy one…not because I need it, but because of…MPU? 
As for speeds:
Internet (measured): 129Mb/s, 6Mbp/s (async suck…)
WiFi (measured): 592Mb/s, 591 Mb/s
WiFi is, considering “Internet-things” (WWW, Stream, Call,…) not even close to being the bottleneck. Latency is low, so not an issue at all for file stuff. And even with big files, not an issue. Would it be nice, if syncing a huge folder with a ton of photos/videos was faster? Yes, but not vital as of now.
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It would be even better if Macs supported WiFi 6E. 
Your mileage may vary when it comes to WiFi usage.
That’s how I feel about it, too. I would like better wi-fi speed, but for the average home user I’m not sure how much computer-to-computer networking they’re doing.
If all they have is a cable modem or DSL line connected to the 'net, wi-fi probably isn’t the bottleneck.
And if it is, there’s a small niche market of super-high-end routers to cater to those customers.
It feels to me that if Apple were to re-enter the game they’d need to release a mesh system with the latest standards support, and they’d be looking for a way to massively improve the user experience from what it is with the existing third-party hardware.
So the question is probably more of “what could Apple do massively better than the other companies?”
That’s how I see it. And I don’t see an answer. As I stared, 95-99% just want to plug in their router once and never bother again with it. And for “power users”, you would need to pack a lot of options and configurations. Which won’t be “easy to use”.
I’d rather wait for a new Synology router… 
And affordable 10GbE.
They should create a service called Apple Fiber and offer fiber optic internet? I’m a bit out of ideas here… 
Please don’t encourage them (they do read these forums I’m sure).
Some might claim Apple TV+ is the greatest streaming service on the planet because… it covers the planet. 107 countries with the same content, which as far as I know is unique. Anything they make that’s limited to the US or the “blessed few” is just going to annoy a huge chunk of their customers.
Like…HomePod minis?
Any HomePods. Again, reasons unclear.
At least in the EU it’s easy to order the stuff in another country.
They don’t have to limit it to the USA then. 
A global fibre network would be something to behold! Not that we need one in NZ as, to quote a certain french solider, “we already got one, you see.”
Everybody trusts Apple!
A few parts of New Zealand still don’t have access to fiber optic internet, right?
Phase 1 is complete (Nov ‘19) with 79% of the population covered (if they want it) and Phase 2 is underway to raise that to 87% by some time in 2022. We also have “rural broadband” which is 4G (and at some stage 5G) cellular coverage to fixed-base units for infill. Bear in mind we are an 84% urban population and the other 16% can be in some pretty rugged places.
I know an indie game developer that’s a part of the last 16%. My condolences for him. 
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