Wi-Fi 8 is the next generation of Wi-Fi from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It won't debut for several years, and wide availability isn't likely for several years after that. Still, when it does become widely available, it'll bring unprecedented wireless network speeds.

Technically designated IEEE 802.11bn, Wi-Fi 8 has yet to become official, so it has no hard specification list. However, replacing the 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) standard will attempt to do what previous generations have done: increase network bandwidth, reduce latency, and introduce new features that enhance the performance and usability of wireless networking.

What Is Wi-Fi 8?

Wi-Fi 8, or 802.11bn (also known as Ultra High Reliability, or UHR) is the next-generation Wi-Fi standard. It may be ready by 2028, with officially supporting products launching in the years that follow. General adoption will follow the launch and rollout of Wi-Fi 7, which is just starting to see compatible routers and devices like smartphones, launching in 2024.

Although we don't have firm specifications for Wi-Fi 8, it aims to operate at speeds up to 100 Gbps, which is around 3.5 times the maximum bandwidth of Wi-Fi 7. To achieve this benchmark, it will use the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 Hz bands, in the same fashion as Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi7.

However, it will also take advantage of millimeter wave links, which let it utilize wider frequencies-bands between 42.5 and 71 GHz, in particular-to further enhance performance.

The drawback of these higher frequencies is that they require line of sight, which makes them more vulnerable to blocking and disruption. This quality will have a benefit in open- plan homes, but it may see greater use in public spaces and buildings where multiple nodes will be available.

Beamforming can let networking hardware directly communicate, reducing network congestion and enhancing performance.

Wi-Fi 8 will also be better at multiple access-point management. It should better manage various channels so that they don't overlap, and individual access points will be able to adjust their power based on their distance from other access points and nodes to further prevent interference.

The new wireless standard should also reduce latencies to make it more viable for use in industrial and commercial applications, where even Wi-Fi 7's super-fast 25ms latency is too long. We don't know how fast Wi-Fi 8 will be, but it's possible that its signal latency may be reduced to just a handful of milliseconds. That opens it up as an excellent solution for virtual reality streaming, too.

Wi-Fi 8 Release Date

Wi-Fi 8 has yet to become official, but we expect it in 2028, following the official adoption of Wi-Fi 7 in 2024. We will likely see the first Wi-Fi 8-compatible routers in 2027 at the earliest, with compatible devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets coming later.

New Hardware Required

To take advantage of Wi-Fi 8, users will need new networking hardware and new devices that have built-in support for the new standard. They'll likely need faster internal processing and additional memory to handle the massive throughput of Wi-Fi 8, but it will also require a new generation of antennae to use millimeter-wave frequencies.

Since Wi-Fi 8 has the ability to exceed the performance capabilities of copper-based Ethernet cables, access nodes for Wi-Fi 8 networks will need to be connected using fiber optic cabling. This conversion may prove problematic in larger and older buildings, which use legacy copper wiring between walls for access points.

Conclusion

Wi-Fi 8's raw performance is the headline feature, but it brings a number of other upgrades and improvements that could be more impactful. The reduced latency could see Wi-Fi technology replacing a lot of increasingly outdated wired networks around the world, especially as fiber optic cabling becomes more ubiquitous.

In public spaces during concerts, sports games, and natural disasters, the additional performance and support for greater numbers of devices could prove invaluable, too. Unfortunately, it's still a long way off, but we'll learn more about it in the years to come.