Samsung Note 10 becomes the first WiFi 6 certified phone

According to CNET, the Wi-Fi Alliance officially launched the next-generation Wi-Fi certification program today (16). The program will certify wireless devices that use the next-generation 802.11ax Wi-Fi technology (Wi-Fi 6). After certification, manufacturers can put a small certification mark on their packaging.

This certification mark is important because it tells consumers that the device supports the next generation of Wi-Fi technology and all the new features that come with it.

“Today, we are proud to officially announce that the Galaxy Note 10 is the world’s first Wi-Fi Certified smartphone,” said Inkang Song, vice president and head of the Technology Strategy Group at Samsung Electronics’ IT and Mobile Communications Division.

The advanced features supported by Wi-Fi 6 can bring new experiences to users' wireless networks, even in complex Wi-Fi environments with multiple devices. Its main advantages include higher data rates, higher network capacity, improved performance in crowded environments, and improved power efficiency. The specific features are summarized as follows:

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA): Improves network efficiency and reduces latency in high-demand environments.

Full Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO): 802.11ax adds uplink MU-MIMO to the original downlink MU-MIMO of 11ac, realizing full multi-terminal parallel transmission, which allows more data to be transmitted at one time and enables access points to transmit to more concurrent clients at one time.

Transmit beamforming: Enables higher data rates within a given range, thereby increasing network capacity.

Higher-order modulation and coding schemes (1024-QAM): Improve the throughput of Wi-Fi devices by encoding more data in the same amount of spectrum.

Target Wake Time (TWT): Dramatically improves the battery life of Wi-Fi devices such as IoT devices.

“As adoption of the latest generation of Wi-Fi becomes more widespread, product vendors and service providers can be confident that Wi-Fi Certified will differentiate Wi-Fi 6 products and networks that meet the highest standards for security and interoperability,” the Wi-Fi Alliance said.

Companies participating in the Wi-Fi certification include Asus, AT&T, Boingo, Broadcom, Cisco, Comcast, Intel, Netgear, Qualcomm, Samsung, TP-Link and Xiaomi, and it is expected that Wi-Fi 6 will be widely used in various devices in the coming year.

Still, shipments of such devices are expected to remain relatively small in 2019, said Yogita Kanesin, senior research analyst covering Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the Internet of Things at IHS Markit. Still, device certification should help pave the way for 2020 and beyond.

Here are the first products to receive Wi-Fi certification:

Broadcom BCM4375

Broadcom BCM43698

Broadcom BCM43684

Cypress CYW 89650 Auto-Grade Wi-Fi 6 Certified

Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) AX200 (for PCs)

Intel Home Wi-Fi Chipset WAV600 Series (for routers and gateways)

Marvell 88W9064 (4x4) Wi-Fi 6 Dual-Band STA

Marvell 88W9064 (4x4) + 88W9068 (8x8) Wi-Fi 6 Concurrent Dual-Band AP

Qualcomm Networking Pro 1200 Platform

Qualcomm FastConnect 6800 Wi-Fi 6 Mobile Connectivity Subsystem

Ruckus R750 Wi-Fi 6 Access Point