How Wi-Fi 7 and Dual Bluetooth help transform smartphone experiences

Smartphones have long been the personal device we carry everywhere. And as processing speeds across the industry continue to increase, we’re using our smartphones more and expect more from them. Wi-Fi 7 brings the tools and features to maximize your smartphone experience. But what exactly makes it stand out from previous generations? We spoke with Vice President of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Javier del Prado, whose expertise sheds light on how Wi-Fi 7 transforms the way we experience our personal devices.

What does Wi-Fi 7 as standard bring to smartphones and how will consumers know their device has it?

The Wi-Fi 7 generation more than doubles the speeds of Wi-Fi 6. It includes features like Multi-Link Operation (MLO) and scheduling on the AP side, allowing extremely high throughput and low latency for peak performance, which are critical to guarantee a good experience for today’s primary usages of the phone, such as audio/video conferencing, multiplayer gaming, or multimedia streaming. 

Consumers can be certain they’re using a Wi-Fi 7 smartphone by checking the technical specifications for either 802.11be, or Wi-Fi 7 as the supported standard. Some phones will even have graphic icons to tell you when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi 7 network.

There are a couple of unique features that Qualcomm Technologies brings to connectivity such as High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link (HBS ML) and Dual Bluetooth — how do these benefits translate to the smartphone and how will users recognize them?

Qualcomm Technologies empowers users with the flexibility of your smartphone to take advantage of what the AP offers. There are many paths to 320MHz and if the AP offers it, HBS ML connects to that in the most efficient way, whether that’s 160 + 160 or 160 + 80 for 240MHz. So imagine all the things you do when connected on Wi-Fi: whether you’re gaming, trying to multi-task, video calling your friends and family — all these applications will become smoother, crisper, and more responsive because the smartphone will take full advantage to get the very best throughput and latency.

Regarding Dual Bluetooth, users will feel a longer range and a stronger connection whether it’s in your backpack, purse, or even in another room. Many of our office peripherals are connected via Bluetooth — your mouse, keyboard, earbuds — and you can get up to walk away while maintaining a solid connection.

Does HBS ML and Dual Bluetooth unlock new use cases? 

HBS ML and Dual Bluetooth will undoubtedly make all the things you’re connected to today a better, faster, and stronger experience. One use case I see in the most immediate future is wireless docking, which is being able to wirelessly connect to a work setup — monitors, keyboard, mouse, etc. This is a huge need and I’m sure you’ve felt this as we’ve gotten back to hybrid work where our workspace may be less defined. 

As an employee you may find that the dock you have used might not always display on your monitors, or that a wire or plug may not work. For employers, you’re having to upkeep on these docks and cables, and provide enough for every place they’re needed since it’s not easily movable. With both Dual Bluetooth and HBS ML, the idea of wireless docking can become a reality. 

Imagine you’re presenting in 10 minutes, but you want to stop at a cube to double check your last edits have been saved. You could easily sit down, not even take out your laptop, and have the laptop discover the wireless dock via Bluetooth. HBS ML would deliver a high band connection to your laptop, allowing you to quickly check the finishing details in your presentation. As you walk away, you’d be disconnected from the dock, then walk into your conference room and wirelessly connect to the screen to give a flawless presentation. Wireless docking delivers this kind of seamless mobile work environment that benefit both employees and employers.

How do you see smartphones evolving in the next 5 years? What role does connectivity play? 

It might be hard to imagine, but smartphones will be an even more important part of your life in the next 5 years. As technologies advance both on the processing and connectivity side, your phone will play a central role in the processing in increasingly popular applications like augmented reality (AR), multi-device connection, wireless docking, and more. If you can remember a few years back when Pokémon Go came out, that was a great example of using AR on your phone. When you pair it with AR glasses and a high processing smartphone — the possibilities are limitless. You can imagine scenarios where complementary information is displayed like being able to view product details while out shopping, or a technician viewing a physical part and seeing technical diagrams.