On the occasion of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Qualcomm officially unveiled its new portfolio of products based on the standard Wi‑Fi 8.
The growing need to manage AI-related workloads has driven the company to design a new network architecture capable of delivering unprecedented performance for mobile devices, access points and gateways.
The newly unveiled lineup is organized into two main branches: the mobile FastConnect 8800 system and no fewer than five new network platforms named Dragonwing.
Qualcomm Opens the MWC with Its Wi-Fi 8 Solutions
The FastConnect 8800 system represents the first mobile solution to offer a 4×4 Wi‑Fi radio configuration, a technical feature that allows surpassing the 10 Gbps threshold, reaching peaks of 11.6 Gbps at the physical layer.
Beyond raw speed, which is doubled compared to the previous Wi‑Fi 7 generation, this architecture guarantees coverage up to three times higher.
The chip, built with a 6‑nanometer manufacturing process, stands out for an exceptionally high level of integration, housing inside it technologies Wi‑Fi 8, Bluetooth 7.0, Ultra Wideband 802.15.4ab and Thread 1.5.
The improvements from Qualcomm enrich the wireless experience across the board. Thanks to the implementation of Bluetooth High Data Throughput, Bluetooth data transfer speeds jump from 2 Mbps to 7.5 Mbps.
Completing the mobile offering is Proximity AI, which uses a combination of UWB, Bluetooth Channel Sounding and Wi‑Fi Ranging to ensure extremely precise device tracking, with centimeter-level accuracy.
This hardware and software suite is fully supported by the company’s new RF front-end modules, namely the QXM110x and QXM210x models.
The Power of Dragonwing Infrastructures
Parallel to smartphone and tablet solutions, Qualcomm has introduced the Dragonwing line, designed to raise the performance of home routers, enterprise access points and gateways to new standards.
The flagship model is the Dragonwing NPro A8 Elite, equipped with a Wi-Fi 8 5×5 radio system capable of increasing throughput by 40% at typical distances and reducing latency by up to 2.5x during peak usage, all while consuming 30% less energy on a daily basis compared to previous platforms.
The compute power is ensured by a new generation pentacore CPU and an integrated Qualcomm Hexagon NPU, essential specifications for real-time AI applications at the network edge.
The range includes several variants to suit a variety of market needs. The Dragonwing FiberPro A8 Elite shares the same processing capabilities as the NPro model, but couples them with 10G PON optical fiber access, making it ideal for operators and manufacturers.
Regarding fixed wireless networks, the Dragonwing FWA Gen 5 Elite uses the Snapdragon X85 5G Modem-RF system to combine cellular networks with the performance of Wi‑Fi 8.
Finally, the N8 and F8 platforms position themselves as solid mass-market options, designed respectively for Ethernet broadband and fiber deployments, extending the benefits of the new protocols to home routers and mesh systems.
All Qualcomm Wi‑Fi 8 portfolio products are currently in sampling to customers, with commercial availability of the first devices expected by the end of 2026.
