Wi-Fi 7 got a big bump in interest this week, as the latest iPhone 16 models both support the latest wireless standard. Wi-Fi 7 means faster speeds, improved latency, reliability and the ability to handle multiple devices at once -- but only if you have a router and device that both support it (and a fast enough internet plan to make it worthwhile).
The Wi-Fi Alliance, a network of over 900 companies that develops and certifies Wi-Fi technology, officially launched its “Wi-Fi 7 Certified” program in January 2024. Since then, devices like phones, laptops and routers have been eligible for its stamp of approval.
The Wi-Fi 7 certification had been anticipated since as early as 2019 when Wi-Fi 6 was still brand new. You’ll need both a Wi-Fi 7 router and a Wi-Fi 7 device to take advantage of those benefits, and those are both becoming increasingly available, with the new iPhones marking a major step forward in Wi-Fi 7's reign. Like previous standards, Wi-Fi 7 is backward compatible, so a Wi-Fi 7 router will still work with a Wi-Fi 6 device, and vice versa.
Maureen Gallagher, Vice President of Marketing at Wi-Fi Alliance, told CNET that she expects Wi-Fi 7 to have a major impact on things like AR/VR/XR, autonomous driving and network congestion. "Wi-Fi 7 helps users overcome congestion and interference in large or crowded venues -- like conferences or stadiums -- bringing improved user experiences in areas with densely packed devices or neighboring networks that overlap," she said.
Routers from Asus, Eero, Neatgear and TP-Link have been using the Wi-Fi 7 label for over a year, but they're now getting the official Wi-Fi logo when they pass the Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification tests.
Wi-Fi 7 refers to the seventh generation of wireless technology, coming on the heels of Wi-Fi 6 (launched in 2019) and Wi-Fi 6E (2020). It's a collection of technology standards created by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers; the official IEEE standard for Wi-Fi 7 is 802.11be, and the Wi-Fi Alliance has already started giving new routers, phones and laptops the Wi-Fi 7 seal of approval.
In order to take advantage of Wi-Fi 7 features, both your router and the device it’s connecting to will require Wi-Fi 7 hardware. (You can find out if a device is certified Wi-Fi 7 on the alliance’s product finder.)
How does Wi-Fi 7 work?
Wi-Fi 7 still uses the same three bands as Wi-Fi 6E: 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz. So why is Wi-Fi 7 such an improvement? It comes down to wider channels. Wi-Fi 7 doubles the channel size of the 6-GHz band, going from 160MHz to 320MHz. Think of it like a highway going from two to four lanes -- the amount of data that can be transmitted at once will be drastically increased. A typical Wi-Fi 7 laptop could reach a “potential maximum” of 5.8Gbps -- 2.4 times faster than the 2.4Gbps possible with Wi-Fi 6/6E, according to Intel, one of the companies producing Wi-Fi 7 certified chipsets.
The other significant step forward for Wi-Fi 7 is Multi-Link Operation (MLO). Wi-Fi 6 and 6E provided access to multiple bands, but devices could only connect to one band at a time. MLO allows Wi-Fi 7 devices to simultaneously connect on two bands. That results in faster speeds, but it also means improved reliability and ultra-low latency. Let’s go back to the highway analogy. On older versions of Wi-Fi, cars could only travel in one lane at a time, moving to a different lane if there was a traffic jam. With MLO, cars will be able to travel across two highways at the same time, avoiding the slowdowns that come with traffic jams.
Do I need new equipment to use Wi-Fi 7?
You'll need two devices to take advantage of these benefits: a Wi-Fi 7 router and a Wi-Fi 7 device to connect to it. Fortunately, Wi-Fi 7 is fully backward compatible, so you'll be able to use your older devices with a Wi-Fi 7 router, or a Wi-Fi 7 phone with a Wi-Fi 6 router -- you just won't reap the Wi-Fi 7 benefits.
When will Wi-Fi 7 be available?
There are dozens of Wi-Fi 7 routers already available, but they’re still relatively rare -- particularly with devices like phones, laptops and smart home gadgets. The Wi-Fi Alliance predicts that 233 million Wi-Fi 7 devices will enter the market in 2024, and grow to 2.1 billion devices by 2028.
That doesn’t mean you need to run out and replace your router immediately. Devices like phones, laptops and gaming systems with Wi-Fi 7 aren't quite the norm yet. That has started to change with Apple's latest iPhone 16 release. Companies like Broadcom, Intel, MediaTek and Qualcomm have also begun producing Wi-Fi 7-certified chipsets, which the Wi-Fi Alliance has used as a test bed for certification. There is typically about a year or two gap between the certification announcement and devices becoming widely available, so we should start to see more Wi-Fi 7 phones, laptops and other devices next year.