Even because the world continues to be settling into Wi-Fi 7, the following era is already transferring 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’ve got 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 contemporary rounds of {hardware} testing and validation. LitePoint, identified for its wi-fi check options, introduced it has achieved PHY-level validation of Qualcomm’s W-Fi 8 answer which, phrase is, shall be unveiled at Cell World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona in March.
Though the Teradyne firm is gentle on particulars of the check and Qualcomm is but to announce on its finish, up to now it’s revealed that the IQxel-MX platform was used for the trial.
The validation and efficiency testing was carried out on key options, similar to superior error correction, MIMO modulation, optimized price adaptation, prolonged vary and spectrum effectivity. These capabilities shall be important to energy next-generation functions, like AR/VR, clever IoT, and enterprise and residential functions, the corporate stated.
LitePoint introduced the IQxel-MX in September final yr, positioning it as an all-in-one check answer for Wi-Fi 8 functions. The IQxel-MX comes loaded with capabilities like improved RF efficiency, 6GHz band assist, 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, stated, “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 certain that prospects 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 yr.
Wi-Fi 8 is much less about uncooked velocity and extra about reliability. The brand new era retains the high-end Wi-Fi 7 setups’ velocity (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 skill 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 units. Since then, a number of corporations apart from 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 cellular units, forward-leaning house entry level distributors,” earlier than ultimately gaining traction with enterprise, telephone and PC producers and automotive corporations.