A new era is dawning in wireless connectivity technologies. While Wi-Fi 7 devices have yet to become widespread, technology companies have begun sharing the first draft information for the Wi-Fi 8 standard. Qualcomm’s blog post has revealed technical details for the next-generation wireless standard, called 802.11bn. The draft specification is expected to be released in July.

Wi-Fi 8 technology is coming soon

The new standard focuses on improving connection stability in high-network environments. The first enhancement Qualcomm is focusing on is Seamless Roaming, which ensures a seamless connection when switching between multiple access points.

This directly impacts the user experience, especially in multi-story buildings or large offices. Thanks to improvements made at the physical layer, signal quality is improved even for devices located at the outer edges of the access area.

Another notable innovation in Wi-Fi 8 is Multi-AP Coordination technology. This technology facilitates more efficient resource sharing in areas served by multiple access points simultaneously.

This eliminates any degradation in connection performance in campuses, apartment complexes, and dense office environments. The network load distribution becomes more balanced, minimizing connection drops or fluctuations.

Reducing interference between devices sharing antennas is also an area of improvement for Wi-Fi 8. This system, called Coexistence Optimization, improves signal quality, particularly in devices with limited processing power, such as wearables. While maintaining connection stability, power consumption is also reduced. Thus, the Wi-Fi 8 standard also offers a structure that extends battery life.

Previous technical documentation from MediaTek stated that Wi-Fi 8 focuses on improving signal accuracy and managing connection traffic more efficiently. Dynamic Subchannel Operation stands out in this context.

When multiple devices are downloading the same content simultaneously, the system prioritizes faster devices. This provides a solution to prevent delays and congestion in data transmission. Despite all these developments, the official Wi-Fi Alliance certification and final approval process for Wi-Fi 8 is expected to be completed by 2028. During this period, Wi-Fi 7 will continue to be the mainstream wireless standard. During this transition, technology manufacturers are continuing to expand Wi-Fi 7 infrastructure and are also working on Wi-Fi 8-compatible hardware.