Several new products featuring the new WiFi 6 standard were unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which wrapped up January 11, 2019, in Las Vegas.
Several manufacturers presented their first WiFi 6 routers at the Las Vegas show, such as TP-Link, Asus and Netgear.
Most of these products won't be available in stores until the second half of 2019, for the simple reason that no connected device is yet compatible with the new standard. Some of the first handsets likely to be equipped with a WiFi 6 chip include upcoming 5G smartphones running Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processors. Some could even be unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress, which runs February 25-28, 2019, in Barcelona, Spain.
WiFi 6 is another name for WiFi 802.11ax, the new wireless standard set to replace the current 802.11ac. It promises quadrupled speeds, up to a theoretical 4.8 Gbit/s. As well as speed, WiFi 6 should also facilitate the simultaneous connection of multiple devices and improve range. The aim is to deliver an optimal mobile connection in an environment where fiber optic technology and new uses are becoming more mainstream (video streaming, virtual reality, etc.).
