Microsoft brings Wi-Fi 7 support to Windows 11 with latest preview build, coming to everyone later this year
Support for much faster Wi-Fi speeds is coming with the next version of Windows later this year.
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What you need to know
Microsoft has announced that it’s bringing support for Wi-Fi 7 hardware toWindows 11 with version 24H2, which is expected to launch later this year as Microsoft’s next big OS update. Hardware with W-Fi 7 capabilities started shipping over the last handful of months, but the current in-market version of Windows doesn’t yet support it.
Wi-Fi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be Extremely High Throughput, offers much faster speeds over Wi-Fi 6E, as well as better efficiency, latency, reliability, and power. It includes multi-gigabit speeds, with up to 4x faster speeds than Wi-Fi 6E. With lower latency, games and video conferencing will be faster with better performance and responsiveness, too.
Here are the Wi-Fi 7 highlights:
Of course, Wi-Fi 7 is only available on new hardware that ships with the technology. It requires both a Wi-Fi 7 access point and Wi-Fi 7 hardware built into PCs and laptops. In ourDell XPS 14 review, we noted that it’s one of the first Windows PCs on the market with support for Wi-Fi 7, but Windows won’t be able to fully utilize the faster speeds until the version 24H2 update later this years.
Windows 11 version 24H2is the next big OS update for Windows 11, which is expected to feature a number of quality of life improvements, platform enhancements, andnew AI features tied to next-gen NPU hardwareshipping on Intel Ultra and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips.
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Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows on PCs, tablets, phones, and more. Also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch onTwitterandThreads
