To us, Wi-Fi 6 still feels like the new kid on the block but it would appear that Wi-Fi 7 is just around the corner. In fact, MediaTek has already been demonstrating its Wi-Fi 7 technology to "key customers and industry collaborators."

DigitalTrends reports that MediaTek's showcase used something it calls "Filogic" technology to achieve Wi-Fi 7's maximum speed - which is over 2.4 times faster than Wi-Fi 6.

Qualcomm's Senior Director of Technology Planning, Andy Davidson, told Pocket-lint "Wi-Fi 7 brings a multitude of features that can be used to offer extreme speeds, high capacity, and low latency in support of next-generation applications and services."

But what will this mean for the tech that you care about? Join us as we find out.

What Wi-Fi 7 promises

  • 2.4x faster than Wi-Fi 6 on 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz
  • Up to 40Gbps speeds
  • Wider bandwidth and lower latency even in congested environments

The Wi-Fi 7 standard, which is also known as IEEE 802.11be, will essentially be capable of much higher speeds than its predecessor, as well as bringing lower latency and more stable connections in difficult environments.

Wi-Fi 7 can handle at least 30 Gbps and potentially up to 40Gbps. That's up to the same speed as Thunderbolt 3 or four times faster than 10 Gigabit Ethernet - all without wires.

Now, we know what you're thinking, your internet provider can't give you anything close to those speeds, but that's not the full story.

Firstly, if it proves to deliver on all of its claims, Wi-Fi 7 could spell the end of costly wired ethernet installs by offering equivalent or faster connectivity over the air.

Secondly, it could have a massive impact on how we use our local area networks.

One especially cool example is that Wi-Fi 7 could allow for wireless uncompressed 4K video streams for untethered VR and AR experiences.

Qualcomm's Andy Davidson said, "Immersive, realistic XR (extended reality) experiences require exceptionally high-quality video with very high refresh rates that demand very high speeds and bandwidth."

"Cloud gaming, social gaming, and Metaverse are additional applications that will test the boundaries of wireless technology and for which Wi-Fi 7 will deliver ample performance."

On the more practical side of things, imagine accessing a NAS over the Wi-Fi but with Thunderbolt 3 equivalent transfer speeds, blissful.

What is Wi-Fi 7 and why should you care? photo 3
Qualcomm

Qualcomm's Wi-Fi 7 tech will use "High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link" that will allow devices to operate simultaneously on multiple bands in order to avoid congestion and lower the latency.

It will also use some clever technology to work around interference in Wi-Fi channels, Qualcomm calls this "Preamble puncturing".

Traditionally, if there was interference in the desired channel, devices could only take advantage of the spectrum up to where the interference is occurring, and not beyond it. 

"Preamble puncturing" allows devices to use the spectrum beyond the interference, resulting in more available bandwidth in tricky environments.

 What is Wi-Fi 7 and why should you care? photo 2

In practice, this means that Wi-Fi 7 promises to alleviate the struggles of connecting in particularly congested environments and will provide much higher speeds and lower latency once connected.

When will Wi-Fi 7 products be available?

  • To be certified by IEEE in 2024
  • Compatible products to ship by 2023

The bad news is that as of right now, Wi-Fi 7 is just a draft specification and it isn't expected to be certified by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) until 2024.

On the other hand, MediaTek believes that the first consumer products capable of supporting the Wi-Fi 7 standard could ship by 2023. It announced its Filogic 380 chips at Computex 2022, and more recently the Dimensity 9200 mobile platform, which is Wi-Fi 7 ready. Dimensity 9200 smartphones are expected to ship before the end of 2022.

TP-Link is all in on Wi-Fi 7 and has announced a range of  Wi-Fi 7-capable routers. This includes the fancy Archer BE900, with quad-band technology and even the ability to display emojis - if that's something you want your router to do. TP-Links' Wi-FI 7 routers will be available for pre-order on December 31st 2022, with shipping expected to commence in the first quarter of 2023.

Intel says its Wi-Fi 7 compatible products will come to market in alignment with the Wi-Fi Alliance certification schedule, and we should expect products to launch in the 2023-2024 time frame.

Whatever the case may be, we've got a while to wait, but the future sure is looking bright for wireless data transmission.