First look: Just two years after Wi-Fi 7's commercial rollout, the next generation of wireless networking has arrived

 First look: Just two years after Wi-Fi 7's commercial rollout, the next generation of wireless networking has arrived – at least in prototype form. CES 2026 offered an unexpected preview of Wi-Fi 8, with major manufacturers introducing early hardware built on a standard that's still years from completion.

Unlike past upgrades focused primarily on headline-grabbing speed boosts, Wi-Fi 8 is aimed at improving connection stability, power efficiency, and consistency across devices. It retains Wi-Fi 7's already high data speeds but seeks to refine how devices communicate with each other, maintain performance across distance, and handle intensive streaming or gaming sessions with fewer signal drops and less lag.

Although the IEEE's official 802.11bn specification for Wi-Fi 8 isn't expected to be finalized until 2028, router and chip makers are already preparing products based on the draft version – with plans to bring them to market this year.

Among the early adopters, Asus drew attention with a design shift as bold as its technology. The company's concept router, the ROG NeoCore, stood in sharp contrast to last year's heavily antenna-clad model. The new polyhedral unit resembles a 20-sided die, with a hollow base and no external antennae sprawl typical of high-end devices.

According to Asus, the NeoCore maintains Wi-Fi 7-level peak speeds but achieves higher throughput and lower latency, aiming to move more data simultaneously with fewer bottlenecks. The Verge's reporter Sean Hollister, who examined the mock-up at the show, says that the prototype "broke when I picked it up."

The plastic mockup broke when I picked it up,” reported Hollister from the Asus booth. “Perfect,” responded Nilay Patel, Editor in Chief of The Verge.

Broadcom also announced some Wi-Fi 8 gear at CES, including the BCM4918 APU and two new dual-band radios, the BCM6714 and BCM6719. All three devices are intended for powering residential Wi-Fi 8 routers and service provider gateways.

Similarly, on Monday, MediaTek announced its family of Wi-Fi 8 chips, Filogic 8000, which it says will power “premium and flagship devices leveraging Wi-Fi 8 technology,” everything from enterprise access points to smartphones, laptops, TVs, and smart home devices. The first gear featuring a Filogic 8000 chip is expected to launch later this year.

These new routers and chipsets are arriving only a few months after TP-Link demonstrated the first Wi-Fi 8 prototype connection in October. Despite brands going full steam ahead with Wi-Fi 8, the official IEEE 802.11bn specification hasn’t actually been finalized yet. The current IEEE timeline predicts that the Wi-Fi 8 standard won’t be ratified until mid to late 2028. Yet, Asus says its first Wi-Fi 8 routers are slated to launch this year. Early hardware would be based on a draft version of the spec, and would likely need a firmware update down the road to match up with the final specification.

“What you are seeing at CES around Wi-Fi 8 reflects industry excitement for the next generation of Wi-Fi,” Kevin Robinson, CEO of the non-profit Wi-Fi Alliance, said in a statement to The Verge. “Wi-Fi Alliance is in the early stages of selecting Wi-Fi 8 features, and it is common for the Wi-Fi ecosystem to begin its work on silicon, reference designs, early product development, and technology previews ahead of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED availability.

By Advik Gupta