Even because the world continues to be settling into Wi-Fi 7, the following era is already shifting from idea to check bench
In sum— what to know:
LitePoint validates Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi 8 {hardware}: LitePoint achieves PHY degree validation of Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi 8 {hardware} on its IQxel-MX platform
Platform of alternative: Launched in Sept, 2025, the IQxel-MX presents system-level characterization and validation of all Wi-Fi 8 and Wi-Fi 7 functions.
We now have barely embraced Wi-Fi 7 — a few of us are nonetheless on Wi-Fi 6 — however Wi-Fi 8 is already upon us. The brand new era of Wi-Fi was one of many present highlights at Shopper Know-how Affiliation (CES) 2026 in Las Vegas the place Broadcom and MediaTek previewed their respective Wi-Fi 8 chip households, and Asus unveiled its idea router ROG NeoCore Wi-Fi 8 — which my school Catherine Sbeglia Nin coated intimately. Even Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang gave it a nod whereas receiving a Medal of Honor from IEEE on the occasion.
“It’s a must to take into consideration IEEE when you consider 802.11,” Huang quipped.
And with any new era of Wi-Fi comes recent rounds of {hardware} testing and validation. LitePoint, recognized for its wi-fi take a look at options, introduced it has achieved PHY-level validation of Qualcomm’s W-Fi 8 answer which, phrase is, can be unveiled at Cellular World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona in March.
Though the Teradyne firm is gentle on particulars of the take a look at and Qualcomm is but to announce on its finish, to date it’s revealed that the IQxel-MX platform was used for the trial.
The validation and efficiency testing was carried out on key options, equivalent to superior error correction, MIMO modulation, optimized fee adaptation, prolonged vary and spectrum effectivity. These capabilities can be important to energy next-generation functions, like AR/VR, clever IoT, and enterprise and residential functions, the corporate mentioned.
LitePoint introduced the IQxel-MX in September final 12 months, positioning it as an all-in-one take a look at answer for Wi-Fi 8 functions. The IQxel-MX comes loaded with capabilities like improved RF efficiency, 6GHz band help, vast instrument bandwidth, and 4K QAM — and is designed to deal with system-level characterization and validation of each Wi-Fi 8 and Wi-Fi 7 requirements.
John Lukez, President of LitePoint, mentioned, “Wi-Fi 8 is a transformational leap ahead, and LitePoint is proud to play a important position in accelerating its adoption. By validating Qualcomm Applied sciences’ cutting-edge options with our IQxel-MX platform, we’re serving to be sure that clients can confidently put together for the following era of wi-fi connectivity.”
The announcement comes after rival Rohde & Schwarz partnered up with Broadcom to validate the tech big’s Wi-Fi 8 chipsets on its testing platform in Nov, final 12 months.
Wi-Fi 8 is much less about uncooked pace and extra about reliability. The brand new era retains the high-end Wi-Fi 7 setups’ pace (most 46 Gbps), spectrum bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz) and channel width (320 MHz) — however guarantees to supply constant, extra dependable efficiency, becoming for AI functions. The brand new era’s power is its means to adapt intelligently to native circumstances which can quantity to fewer drops, much less congestion, and decrease latency even when the community is overloaded.
Information of trials began to emerge late in 2025 when TP-Hyperlink introduced conducting first profitable trials for Wi-Fi 8 {hardware} utilizing prototype gadgets. Since then, a number of firms moreover Qualcomm, like Broadcom, Intel, MediaTek and Marvell have thrown their weight behind the expertise.
Talking in an RCR Wi-fi Information webinar again in Sept, Rolf de Vegt, VP of Technical Requirements, who leads Qualcomm’s workgroup for Wi-Fi 8 predicted the brand new era will observe the identical trajectory because the earlier two, “beginning with progressive higher-end cell gadgets, forward-leaning house entry level distributors,” earlier than ultimately gaining traction with enterprise, telephone and PC producers and automotive firms.
