The first products to feature the next generation of wireless technology, Wi-Fi 7, will be released in 2023.
Semiconductor company MediaTek shared that date in a press release published today that elaborates on the company’s world’s first live demo of Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be) technology, which is designed to show key customers and industry collaborators that the new wireless standard is capable of hitting the speeds advertised by the Wi-Fi Alliance. According to that group, Wi-Fi 7 features a maximum throughput of at least 30 Gbps.
“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, corporate vice president and general manager of the Intelligent Connectivity business 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.”
“Faster broadband Internet access and more demanding applications such as higher resolution video streaming and VR gaming are driving demand for Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and soon Wi-Fi 7,” said Mario Morales, group vice president, Semiconductors at IDC. “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.”
“Today’s consumers want an always-connected, reliable and fast Wi-Fi connection for many applications such as video calls, 4K/8K TV entertainment, real-time gaming, and others,” said Moon Ho Lee, president at Korea Mercury. “MediaTek’s Wi-Fi 7 technology can fulfill the current need for all the applications consumers enjoy today and also open the door for future AR/VR applications which we can’t even imagine today.”
In addition to the increased speeds, Wi-Fi 7 will improve upon its predecessors with reduced latency/jitter, additional bands, up to 320 MHz channel sizes, and 4096-QAM modulation. Naturally, it will be backward compatible with older-generation devices.
Source: MediaTek