The next generation of Wi-Fi might just be ready to be introduced. A Taiwan-based semiconductor firm MediaTek has successfully conducted the first-ever live demo for Wi-Fi 7 technology, according to a report from DigitalTrends. The company expects Wi-Fi 7 products to become available next year in anticipation of the launch of the next-gen Wi-Fi sometime around 2024.
The company said in a press statement that it exhibited the “super-fast speeds and low latency transmission” of its Wi-Fi 7 Filogic technology to “key customers and industry collaborators.” Wi-Fi 7, as shown in MediaTek’s demo, will deliver 2.4 times more speed than Wi-Fi 6, even using the same number of antennas.
According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, this means that Wi-Fi 7 will allow speeds of more than 30 gigabits per second (Gbps) and close to 40Gbps. Currently, Wi-Fi 6 reaches speeds of up to 9.6Gbps.
“Wi-Fi 7’s advances in channel width, QAM, and new features such as multi-link operation (MLO) will make Wi-Fi 7 very attractive for devices including flagship smartphones, PCs, consumer devices and vertical industries like retail and industrial; as service providers begin to deploy a wider spectrum of hotspots across these market segments,” said Mario Morales, group vice president, Semiconductors at IDC.
The new generation of Wi-Fi will support demanding applications such as cloud gaming and 8K video streaming, it will be compatible with all the available spectrums, including 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz. MediaTek also stated that its new multi-link operation (MLO) technology, which combines multiple channels on different frequency bands, will allow for more stable 8K streaming and cloud gaming. It is expected that Wi-Fi 7 will remove the need for Ethernet cables for a stable connection.
“The rollout of Wi-Fi 7 will mark the first time that Wi-Fi can be a true wireline/Ethernet replacement for super high-bandwidth applications,” said Alan Hsu, a corporate vice president, and general manager at MediaTek. “MediaTek’s Wi-Fi 7 technology will be the backbone of home, office and industrial networks and provide seamless connectivity for everything from multi-player AR/VR applications to cloud gaming and 4K calls to 8K streaming and beyond.”
Wi-Fi 7 products will be released by 2023. However, it won’t be certified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) until 2024. Wi-Fi 7 is also being called IEEE 802.11be standard. It is still in the draft specification stage. It will be a while before faster internet will come to us through this.
