(Credit: Asus)
It’s unlikely you have a Wi-Fi 7 router in your home, but the industry is already moving ahead with Wi-Fi 8. The upcoming standard is a big talking point at CES 2026 with news from brands including Asus, Broadcom, and MediaTek.
It's early days for Wi-Fi 8, also known as 802.11bn. We don't expect a final standard from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) until 2028. However, it's designed to help routers reduce latency, increase throughput, and improve efficiency between devices. It's not expected to offer huge speed bumps over Wi-Fi 7.
Asus promises to have its first range of Wi-Fi 8-compatible home routers and mesh systems by the end of 2026. At CES, it showcased a new concept router, the ROG NeoCore, which resembles a Dungeons & Dragons D20 die. It's capable of achieving up to twice the midrange throughput, twice the wide IoT coverage, and up to a six times reduction in P99 latency.
“Wi-Fi 8 is not just about chasing peak speed—it’s about making every connection smarter and more reliable,” says Tenlong Deng, general manager of wireless and networking at Asus. “It enables seamless collaboration between smart homes, AI assistants, and cloud services, delivering stable performance anytime, anywhere.”
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It’s unclear if Asus will release a consumer version of the ROG NeoCore. The Verge reports that the concept device at CES 2026 is fragile enough that one reporter accidentally broke it. That's a sign this concept is intended to show off the promise of Wi-Fi 8 and is not the final look.
We saw a similar trend with Wi-Fi 7, where manufacturers used draft versions of the standard to release compatible products early in an effort to get ahead of the competition. TP-Link, for example, demoed a concept device for a Wi-Fi 8 router in October 2025.
Elsewhere at CES 2026, Broadcom announced a new APU called the BCM4918 and two new dual-band radios designed for Wi-Fi 8 routers. MediaTek also introduced its new Filogic 8000 chip, which will help power Wi-Fi 8-compatible devices. It's designed for premium and flagship gadgets, and MediaTek says it expects to see brands begin to use the tech later this year.