Overview

• Wi-Fi 8’s Ultra High Reliability initiative aims for 25% higher throughput in challenging conditions, 25% fewer dropped packets during handovers, and 25% lower 95th-percentile latency versus Wi-Fi 7.
• The standard builds on Wi-Fi 7’s 4096-QAM, eight spatial streams, MU-MIMO and multi-user OFDMA foundation and adds coordinated spatial reuse, beamforming, dynamic sub-channel operation and enhanced modulation coding.
• Seamless Roaming with Single Mobility Domains and Multi-AP coordination are introduced to maintain low-latency links during movement and in dense, interference-prone environments.
• Qualcomm and MediaTek have publicly outlined these UHR performance targets and new coordination features ahead of the IEEE 802.11bn draft 1.0 specification, expected later this month.
• Wi-Fi Alliance certification is scheduled for January 2028, followed by final IEEE Working Group approval in March 2028, setting the stage for interoperable, highly reliable wireless products.