Routers and devices are still rolling out with Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E compatibility, but the first phones to support the next generation of wireless internet technology will be released soon — and they’ll sport a MediaTek chipset.
MediaTek’s newest high-end silicon, the Dimensity 9200, will likely power some of the top phones to come out of China. The chip promises several advances over its predecessor, the Dimensity 9000, like a 10% faster multicore speed score on Geekbench 5.0, 32% better GPU performance and an interior redesign leading to 25% less power consumed.
But its biggest advance will be to let phones connect to routers and hotspots using Wi-Fi 7 — a name that hasn’t even been officially established by the W-iFi Alliance, though the writing has been on the wall for the name of the upcoming 802.11be standard.
This sets MediaTek up to be more forward-looking than its competitors. The first phones to use the new chip will launch before the year ends, so we won’t have long to see how much this puts the company ahead of rivals like Qualcomm and its Snapdragon chips that come out in brands that release phones in the West.
That said, it’s unclear when we’ll even see the benefits of Wi-Fi 7. It’ll be some time before it’s established, let alone have routers and other devices that support it. When it does come, It’s expected to deliver download speeds up to 30Gbps, which is far faster than the 4.8Gbps of Wi-Fi 6E that it will eventually supersede. However, with median download speeds hovering just under 200Mbps in the US, depending on which provider you get your internet connection from, it’s also a lot faster than just about anyone will need for their home network anytime soon.
Read more: Best Wi-Fi 6 Routers of 2022
But consumers are still upgrading to Wi-Fi 6E, the enhanced standard for WiFi 6 that expands access to the 6GHz spectrum for faster speeds over 6GHz on top of existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrums. Despite Wi-Fi 6E’s reveal in 2020, consumers haven’t upgraded enough of their devices and computers to take advantage of the wider bandwidth of the new spectrum.
Still, equipping phones with Wi-Fi 7-compatible chips means they’ll be ready for the faster speeds and better bandwidth of wireless internet once consumers get the chance to upgrade.
