Apple Upgrades AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule

In the shadow of larger announcements during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote Monday were new AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule devices.

Apple updated its AirPort Extreme base station ($199.99) to include 802.11ac Wi-Fi, which supposedly works three times faster than Wireless N. The elevated design departs from the previous generation and now has six antennas to improve dispersion of the signal.— three antennas for the 2.4GHz band, three for the 5GHz band.

Apple calls the upgraded antenna technology a "beamforming antenna array." The new Airport Extreme, which hits retail stores June 12, comes with a built-in power supply, a Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and a USB 2.0 connection.