Qualcomm announces FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 & Bluetooth 5.3 solution

Qualcomm has just announced the FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 subsystem for smartphones, laptops, and virtual reality headsets promising peak speeds of 5.8 Gbps as well as sub-2 millisecond latency.

We first detailed some of WiFi 7 features such as up to 40 Gbps link, and real-time capabilities when MediaTek showcased its future 802.11be compliant Filogic processor to customers, so it should be no surprise that Qualcomm had been working on its own solution, and announced it at Mobile World Congress 2022.

Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 (WCN785x-1, WCN785x-5) specifications:

• Wi-Fi
  • Standards – Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n
  • Spectral Bands: 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz
  • Peak QAM: 4K QAM
  • Peak speed: 5.8Gbps or 4.3Gbps where the 6GHz spectrum is not available
  • Features
    • 4-stream Dual-band simultaneous (DBS) extended into the High Bands
    • Multi-Link Operation (MLO) using 320 MHz (Single channel or 160 + 160)
    • 8×8 sounding
    • MU-MIMO (Uplink and Downlink)
    • OFDMA (Uplink and Downlink)
    • Target Wake Time
    • Passpoint solution that streamlines Wi-Fi access and eliminates the need for users to find and authenticate a network each time they visit
    • Wi-Fi Aware R3 for connection and data exchange with other Wi-Fi devices without the need for a traditional network infrastructure or an internet connection
    • Wi-Fi Location, etc…
  • Security – Protected Management Frames, WPA3-Enterprise, WPA3-Personal, WPA3-Enhanced Open, WPA3 Easy Connect, WPA2, 802.1x (EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAP) PAP, TLS, MSCHAP, MS-CHAPv2, 64-bit and 128-bit WEP, TKIP, 256-bit AES-GCMP, AES-CCMP, WPA2-PSK, 128-bit AES-CCMP, FIPS 140-2 support
• Bluetooth
  • Bluetooth 5.3
  • Dual Bluetooth with two radios to enable Bluetooth accessories to work up to twice the range, to pair in half the time.
  • Features: LE Audio, Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo, Qualcomm TrueWireless Technology, Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo Plus technology
• Audio
  • Qualcomm aptX audio playback support – aptX Lossless, aptX Voice, aptX Adaptive
  • Snapdragon Sound Technology
  • Audio Processing – Snapdragon Sound Technology, LE Audio, Qualcomm aptX Lossless (CD-quality audio), Low latency Gaming mode with Voice back-channel, Stereo Recording, Qualcomm TrueWireless / TrueWireless Stereo Plus technologies
• Process – 14 nm

Qualcomm also claims up to 30-50% power savings compared to their earlier FastConnect solutions. The higher speed and lower latency will be especially useful to gaming, 8K video streaming, video conferencing, and other workloads that can benefit from high bandwidth and/or low latency.

Products equipped with FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 solutions will be commercially available in H2 2022. More details can be found on the product page. I have not seen any WiFi 7 / 802.11be router chips announced so far from any company, but Qualcomm will certainly have some “IPQxxx” Networking Pro processors coming soon.

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