I guess they'll wriggle out of it somehow with the word "series". And I'm actually okay that the new standard drives new hardware. The step up to a new standard should have driven a new product name, RBK60 or something to avoid any confusion.
I'm going to go back in my hole and read more about WiFi 6. As it turns out, MU-MIMO by itself is actually limited to 4 streams as I now understand it. That should actually be enough for me and I probably won't have any devices that support 802.11 AX for a few years anyway. Still it would have been nice if the RBK50 was futureproofed for the new standard given the cost.
Long experinece with home class routers and new WiFi standards has mostly been with a new standard of WiFi comes out, it's mostly kept to a new product line. Most current and older HW and Chip sets seen in already released HW does not include support for any future WiFi standards as new chipset HW is designed around new wifi standards. Thus most of the time and probably in this case, Any Orbi 50 series will not see a upgrade to the AX WiFi standard. Same may happen for WPA3. Though depending upon how the security standard comes down from those who do the core code, if new HW is needed, then this may effect how WPA3 is implemented by router and wifi Mfrs. Thus if HW is needed for WPA3, then current wifi and router HW may not see WPA3. Though just speculating that WPA3 maybe less HW dependent and more FW dependent, we hope that WPA3 can come to ALL older and current products rather than having to buy new. Who knows though. If marketing has it's way, we'd all have to buy new. 
Hoping that WPA3 will be mostly a FW update. Let all hope for this. 
I think WPA3 is in the new NG RAX routers. Will probably be in the new Orbi AX systems as well.
@FURRYe38 wrote:
Long experinece with home class routers and new WiFi standards has mostly been with a new standard of WiFi comes out, it's mostly kept to a new product line. Most current and older HW and Chip sets seen in already released HW does not include support for any future WiFi standards as new chipset HW is designed around new wifi standards. Thus most of the time and probably in this case, Any Orbi 50 series will not see a upgrade to the AX WiFi standard. Same may happen for WPA3. Though depending upon how the security standard comes down from those who do the core code, if new HW is needed, then this may effect how WPA3 is implemented by router and wifi Mfrs. Thus if HW is needed for WPA3, then current wifi and router HW may not see WPA3. Though just speculating that WPA3 maybe less HW dependent and more FW dependent, we hope that WPA3 can come to ALL older and current products rather than having to buy new. Who knows though. If marketing has it's way, we'd all have to buy new.
Agreed, also I didn't get the impression that the Orbi 802.11ac based devices would be upgradable via a firmware update "at all".
Maybe that's because I have some small degree of understanding of how this all works, but also I might not be entirely correct so take it however you wish.
In order for low powered router (and in this case satelite also) hardware to be able to do what it does much of the heavy duty processing is done in hardware, particularly the wireless functionality.
So when a new wireless standard comes out, such as 802.11ax, the wireless chipset makers/board makers develop new boards and release new development kits (wireless drivers etc.) for them and the router vendors then develop products around them.
This must be done this way at least because of the need implement functionality in hardware.
One obvious point is that while Netgear probably has relationships with the device manufactures they are very much dependednt on what the manufacurers do.
The point is it isn't right or accurate to critisize Netgear for something they have no (or at the very least little) control over.
Another thing to consider is that I'm pretty sure (read this as I'm "certain") that we will not see any 802.11ac routers upgradable to 801.11ax routers from any domestic router vendor (and most probably not enterprise vendors either, unless they had released harware specifically capable of 802.11ax as an 802.11ac product)!
