There is one consumer push for a mesh-networking phone that was in the news recently, Volk Fi. Their idea is to use 900MHz radios in smartphones to hop several miles to the nearest wired hub, alongside a cellular SIM, where a hub owner earns credit for data relayed through it. Some pessimism surrounds them though.
Someone needs to push mesh networking on a more consumer level, if it has to be Apple, so be it.