Wi-Fi Alliance: Wi-Fi 6E is the most significant upgrade in 20 years

With the rapid development of mobile devices, the Wi-Fi Alliance has also announced its most significant upgrade in 20 years, which is Wi-Fi 6E, which can support many new mobile phones, laptops, smart TVs, routers and other products this year. You can simply think of it as an iteration from a two-lane to an eight-lane highway, which can bring faster and more reliable wireless network connections. At the same time, the Wi-Fi Alliance has also begun certification for the first batch of products that support Wi-Fi 6E.

Video screenshot (from: Wi-Fi Alliance / YouTube)

Data from research firm IDC shows that new mobile phones, PCs, and laptops that support Wi-Fi 6E are expected to hit the market in the first few months of 2021. In addition, smart TVs and VR devices that support Wi-Fi 6E are also expected to debut in mid-2021.

At this pace, many manufacturers should announce their first batch of Wi-Fi 6E products during the CES 2021 Consumer Electronics Show next week (opening on January 11), such as the Galaxy S21 series Android flagship smartphones based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC platform.

Wi-Fi 6E is a major upgrade thanks to the huge expansion of wireless spectrum available for consumer electronic devices. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved it in April 2020, but we still had to wait nearly a year.

WiFi 6E Expanding WiFi into 6 GHz spectrum (via)

Many wireless routers currently on the market already support 2.4GHz and 5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi applications. However, the upcoming Wi-Fi 6E products further expand the 6GHz frequency band by 1/3, increasing the number of available wireless channels by four times.

This means that users can enjoy wireless network connections with larger capacity and higher speeds, effectively reducing the occurrence of channel grabbing and network congestion even in crowded places such as apartments.

However, the development of technology is always gradual. In the early stage, there will not be many new devices that support Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 6 has only been launched for about 2 years.

According to IDC's forecast, by early 2022, only 20% of Wi-Fi products will support Wi-Fi 6E. Another major obstacle to promotion depends on the support of regulators around the world.

Even though the United States has approved the 6GHz wireless frequency band for use with Wi-Fi 6E, communications regulators in other regions must also approve it.

The Wi-Fi Alliance said that countries including the United Kingdom, the European Union, South Korea, Chile, and the United Arab Emirates have approved the use of 6GHz Wi-Fi. In addition, regulators in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Japan are currently in the process of promoting implementation.