Samsung Smartphones Will Support WiFi 6

Going forward Samsung smartphones will support WiFi 6 standards, starting with the Galaxy S10.

What does this mean for you?

‘WiFi 6’ is the new name for the 802.11ax wireless standard. The WiFi Alliance took steps to reduce confusion about wireless standard nomenclature by changing the name of the new standard to WiFi 6.  Whatever you choose to call it, this new standard comes with a number of improvements:

Four to 10 times Faster Speeds

WiFi 6 can deliver incredible speeds of over 1 Gbps (or 1,000 Mbps). Ultimately, your home WiFi network speed is dependent on your Internet plan. For example, if your plan includes download speeds of 200 Mbps, you’ll still get only 200 Mbps with WiFi 6.

More Data for Greater Range and Speed

Many home WiFi networks are dual band. That means they operate on two frequency options: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. For better speeds, you connect to the 5 GHz band, and for better range to the 2.4 GHz band.

WiFi 6 will be more efficient with the amount of data it can fit into each frequency band. In theory, this means that WiFi 6 supported devices that are connected to your 2.4 GHz band should not only get greater range, but also faster speeds.

Improved Battery Life

Most mobile devices are continuously connected to WiFi networks so that they can notify owners of new messages, etc. This continuous connection saps battery power.

WiFi 6 supported devices will include a target wake time (TWT) feature. TWT will set a schedule for your devices in sleep mode to receive WiFi data, which should improve battery life.

Will you need to update your WiFi router?

If you have a good WiFi 5 (ac) router, you probably don’t need to swap it out quite yet. On the other hand if you have a WiFi 4 (n) router or older, you may want to consider an upgrade to a WiFi 6 router sooner than later.