Qualcomm this week laid out early details of Wi‑Fi 8, which is officially known as IEEE 802.11bn, signalling a strategic shift from boosting peak throughput to prioritising “Ultra‑High Reliability”.
All going to plan, Wi-Fi 8 will result in:
- At least 25% higher throughput in challenging signal conditions
- 25% lower latency at the 95th percentile of the latency distribution
- 25% fewer dropped packets especially when roaming between access points
That’s just as well given the demands that are likely to be placed on Wi-Fi networks in the years to come. Especially if wearable technologies, such as AR glasses, take off and AI continues its spectacular ascent.
In short, it’s envisioned that Wi-Fi 8 will be the “foundational connectivity fabric” that allows digitised economies and societies to thrive.
In the recent announcement, Rolf de Vegt, Qualcomm’s VP of Technical Standards, emphasised that Wi-Fi 8 is all about greater reliability rather than maximal speed. It’s aimed at delivering consistent, low‑latency, near‑lossless performance in congested, interference‑prone or mobile environments.
More specifically, Wi-Fi 8 will boast seamless roaming, edge performance optimisation and multi-access point coordination. All of those are designed to deliver wired-grade reliability for mission-critical applications in enterprise contexts, large-scale venues and people’s homes.
Qualcomm expects final IEEE approval in early 2028 and Wi‑Fi Alliance certification shortly thereafter, with current prototypes aimed at demanding environments such as university campuses, hospitals and factories.
It’s not just gamers who stand to benefit from lower-latency, more reassuringly reliable Wi-Fi connections. Once Wi-Fi networks can deliver ‘wired-grade reliability’, lots of possibilities open up for tech industry players.
As de Vegt notes, Wi-Fi 8 refines and extends the capabilities of its predecessors to meet the demands of mission-critical, AI-driven systems and dynamic use cases. It’s designed to bring Wi-Fi closer than ever to the reliability and responsiveness of wired infrastructure.