CES 2026 saw many new technological innovations come to forefront, but one of the most surprising ended up being the debut of Wi-Fi 8 products into the ecosystem by the likes of Asus (ROG NeoCore Wi-Fi 8 Router), MediaTek (Filogic 8000) and Broadcom (BCM4918, BCM6714, BCM6719). It is worth noting, though, that prior to this, TP-Link demonstrated its own Wi-Fi 8 gear.
Is Wi-Fi 8 Really Here?
Put simply: no, Wi-Fi 8 (IEEE 802.11bn), is not here yet. In fact, the standard won’t be finalized by the Wi-Fi Alliance until 2028, making today’s announcements based largely on draft speculations.
The Asus routers are slated to launch this year, though, so, technically, Wi-Fi 8 products are already on the way, even though nearly every device that uses Wi-Fi today won’t be able to access the features.
So why then, are companies releasing these types of products? In reality, it’s no different from when Wi-Fi 7 was first announced. Part of it is industry excitement, the other is that, in the Wi-Fi ecosystem, it is very common for companies to come up with reference designs and product previews ahead of the standard’s full release.
How is Wi-Fi 8 Going to be Different from Wi-Fi 7?
Rather than focusing on speed, Wi-Fi 8 is instead going to lean into building more stable connections between devices when it releases. It will feature the same speed and bandwidth of Wi-Fi 7 but with higher throughput and better device communication.
The latest standard is also planned to be able to maintain these speeds further away from the router. All in all, this will (ideally) translate to better streaming and gaming performance.
For integrators, though, Wi-Fi 7 remains the far more realistic upgrade for the time being. Early hardware will likely rely on firmware updates once the standard is finalized, and unless you have a client that is an avid early adopter of new technologies, Wi-Fi 8 remains more of a cool concept now than actual necessity.
Plus, out of all the products mentioned here, only one of them is directly related to networking in the home—that being the Asus router. Maybe once Wi-Fi 8 APs start hitting the market, it will be time to start considering future-proofing your installations.
