Wi‑Fi 7 is still being rolled out. Is Wi‑Fi 8 already on the way?
Not so fast. Work on the next generation of wireless networking is still in its early stages. According to the current roadmap, the specifications are not expected to be finalized until around September 2028. After that, it will likely take a couple of years before the market adapts and Wi‑Fi 8 devices appear in significant numbers.
How will Wi‑Fi 8 improve on previous standards?
The official name for the upcoming technology—IEEE 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability—offers a clue about its priorities. One primary goal is to improve robustness and reliability in dense networks with many access points.
This will be achieved in part by enhancing coordinated spatial reuse, a concept introduced with Wi‑Fi 6. Coordinated spatial reuse enables access points to coordinate channel use so multiple devices can transmit and receive simultaneously on the same channel without causing harmful interference. Early tests conducted by semiconductor company MediaTek indicate that Wi‑Fi 8 could boost overall network throughput by roughly 15 to 25 percent. Throughput measures the total amount of data transferred across all devices on a network per unit of time.
Another feature the Wi‑Fi Alliance is refining is coordinated beamforming. Beamforming focuses radio energy to improve signal strength and reduce interference; coordinated beamforming helps access points in mesh networks synchronize their antenna patterns to deliver stronger, more targeted signals to individual users. MediaTek’s preliminary testing reports a significant improvement in this area compared with earlier standards.
Will Wi‑Fi 8 add new frequency bands?
No major changes are expected on the band front. Like Wi‑Fi 6E and Wi‑Fi 7, Wi‑Fi 8 is expected to operate across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. The standard will retain wide channels—up to 320 MHz in the 6 GHz band—and will support higher-order modulation such as 4K‑QAM, similar to Wi‑Fi 7.
How much faster could the new standard be?
That remains to be determined. Wi‑Fi 7 has a theoretical maximum of 46 Gbit/s, although real-world expectations from experts are closer to 1.5–2 Gbit/s for typical user experiences. Some industry sources estimate that Wi‑Fi 8’s theoretical peak could reach around 100 Gbit/s, but these figures are speculative and actual consumer speeds will depend on device capabilities, network conditions and deployment scenarios.
My new phone only supports Wi‑Fi 6. Do I need to replace it?
No. Wi‑Fi standards have consistently maintained backward compatibility, and Wi‑Fi 7 is designed to work with older devices. Wi‑Fi 8 is also expected to be backward compatible, meaning devices that support Wi‑Fi 5, 6 or 6E should still be able to connect to Wi‑Fi 7 and, in all likelihood, Wi‑Fi 8 networks when those become available. You won’t need to discard perfectly functional hardware just because a new standard emerges.