Wi-Fi 7 is the latest generation and will be standardized in 2024. Here's everything you need to know about it.

Key points:

• Wi-Fi 7 is the next generation wireless LAN standard, providing higher data rates, efficiency and capacity than Wi-Fi 6.
• Wi-Fi 7 supports three frequency bands - 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz, which are improvements over both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E.
• Some Wi-Fi 7 devices are already on the market, but most launches will happen next year after the standard is released.

What is Wi-Fi 7?

Wi-Fi 7 is the next generation of the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN) standard, specifically the revision of IEEE 802.11be, which is still under development. Wi-Fi 7 is a "simplified generation name" promoted by the Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit organization that certifies Wi-Fi devices. Wi-Fi 7 is the successor to Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6, which are part of the IEEE 802.11ax standard.

802.11be or Wi-Fi 7 is called Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Wi-Fi and describes the IEEE's goals in the new standard. In comparison, 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6) is called high-efficiency (HE) Wi-Fi. Despite these goals, Wi-Fi 7 is expected to be a generational improvement, delivering higher data rates, efficiency, capacity, and range than previous standards in addition to lower latency and improved security. It aims to provide at least 30 Gbps throughput.

With these improvements, the Wi-Fi Alliance expects Wi-Fi 7 devices to be useful for "time-sensitive networking applications, including AR/VR, 4K and 8K video streaming, automotive, cloud computing, gaming and video applications, as well as mission-critical and industrial applications “Delivering wireless innovation.

Thanks to the IEEE 802.11be draft amendment proposed in March 2021, there are already some devices supporting Wi-Fi 7. However, most Wi-Fi devices will not be available until the final version of the amendment is released, which is expected to be officially adopted in early 2024. Just like previous generations, Wi-Fi 7 will be backwards compatible with legacy devices that support any of its frequency bands.

Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6E/6

Wi-Fi 7 supports three frequency bands, namely 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz. Wi-Fi 6 only supports the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, while Wi-Fi 6E only supports the 6 GHz frequency band. Wi-Fi 7 has a theoretical maximum link rate of about 46 Gbps, but actual performance will be significantly reduced. By comparison, Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6 have a maximum link rate of about 9.6 Gbps. While this means Wi-Fi 7 is 4.8 times faster than Wi-Fi 6, it's roughly 2.4 times faster with the same radio configuration.

The new Wi-Fi 7 standard uses denser 4096-QAM (or 4K-QAM) modulation for data transmission, with a theoretical transmission rate that is 20% higher than the 1024-QAM of Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6. It doubles channel bandwidth to 320 MHz compared to 160 MHz on Wi-Fi 6E, doubles capacity (number of concurrent devices) and increases user data speeds on a single device.

Compared with Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6, a new feature brought by Wi-Fi 7 is multi-link operation (MLO), which allows routers, access points (APs) and clients to communicate across multiple Bands and channels send and receive data without having to quickly switch between them. This increases network throughput and capacity while reducing latency by up to 100x compared to non-MLO configurations. Combined with the 320 MHz ultra-wide channel, MLO can increase network capacity by 5 times.

Wi-Fi 7 also provides flexible channel utilization, so-called multi-path puncture, thereby improving anti-interference capabilities. Essentially, if part of a channel is affected, that part can be blocked, while the rest of the channel can continue to be used. While Wi-Fi 6 had preamble puncture, Wi-Fi 7's Multi-RU puncture will be a major improvement in interference immunity.

Another advantage of Wi-Fi 7 over Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 6 is that the number of spatial streams in a multi-purpose, multiple-input, multiple-output (MU-MIMO) setup is doubled from 8 to 16. Combined with Multi-AP coordination, Wi-Fi 7 can support a more distributed MIMO interface than earlier iterations.

Available Wi-Fi 7 devices

While a good way to find specific types of Wi-Fi certified devices is on the Wi-Fi Alliance's product search page, the organization doesn't yet list Wi-Fi 7 as a filter. This should change once the final standard is released in 2024. In the meantime, here's a non-exhaustive list of consumer products that are either already on the market or have recently been announced to support Wi-Fi 7.

Keep in mind that most of these devices support the standard in a limited way, such as providing 2x2 UL/DL MU-MIMO support while the standard supports up to 16x16 UL/DL MU-MIMO.

router:

• Asus RT-BE96U and ROG Rapture GT-BE98
• Eero Max 7
• Linksys Velop Pro 7 BE11000
• Netgear Nighthawk RS700
• TP-Link Archer BE550,Archer BE800,Archer BE805,Archer BE900,and Archer GE800
• TP-Link Deco BE65,Deco BE85,and TP-Link Deco BE95

smart phone:

• Asus ROG Phone 7,ROG Phone 7 Ultimate,ZenFone 10
• Honor Magic 5
• OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Ace 2 Pro
• Oppo Find X6 and Find X6 Pro
• Realme GT5
• Xiaomi 13T Pro and Mix Fold 3
• ZTE Nubia Red Magic 8S Pro and Pro+

laptop:

• Acer Swift Edge 16
• Lenovo Legion Slim 7 and Legion Slim 7i