When Samsung introduced their latest Galaxy smartphones last month, the S21 Ultra was the first to introduce support for Wi-Fi 6E – allowing users unauthorized hacking of new spectrum in places including South Korea and the USA.
Support for 5G spectrum bands is another key feature, but when it comes to user experience, Wi-Fi still accounts for the majority of mobile device connections, especially internally. And Samsung’s JM Choi said the electronic giant promises leadership in both connectivity experiences.
Choi, VP and head of Consortium R&D Group at Samsung Electronics, has been with Samsung since 2005 and is an engineer who has been pushing over SoftAP’s capability for mobile devices. That became the Mobile Hotspot, a technology that is now widely used across both iOS and Android. The Choi team is tasked with developing wireless technologies over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC (near field communication) and UWB for all Samsung mobile devices.
Wi-Fi 6E comes with the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard and means devices can tap into the 6 GHz band. Broadcom provided its BCM4389 chip for the Wi-Fi 6E-enabled S21 Ultra.
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“One of the biggest problems with the Wi-Fi network is that there can be congestion as well as device blocking,” Choi said in an interview with Fierce Wireless. “The solution to these problems is to have Wi-Fi 6E.”
Samsung first introduced Wi-Fi 6 in the Galaxy S10 but at that point Wi-Fi networks only used the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands – which already have a lot of devices and users – forcing Choi and the team to believe Wi-Fi 6 capabilities were not being used to the maximum.
Discussions have begun about the unveiling of the 6 GHz band and Samsung’s attempt to add Wi-Fi 6E to the Galaxy S21 Ultra (which could still connect to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi bands it is).
“We believe Wi-Fi 6E can maximize the benefits of advanced Wi-Fi 6” features and offer the best benefits to consumers, Choi said.
Devices with Wi-Fi 6 capability still share the 2.4 and 5 GHz band with legacy models that tend to be slower and maintain connection speed.
However, Wi-Fi 6E is “a whole new canvas,” Choi said.
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In the US there was debate around the 6 GHz, and the Wi-Fi community benefited greatly when the frequencies approved the frequencies for unauthorized use. It offers 1,200 megahertz over seven new 160 MHz channels.
And the new bandwidth is only available with high-performance devices that are compatible with the Wi-Fi 6E technology, meaning users are not slowed down by legacy Wi-Fi devices.
Other regions have also opened up the 6 GHz band for unlicensed, covering parts of Europe and Latin America.
Wi-Fi 6E provides close-up, close-latency, which Choi said is becoming very helpful for indoor experiences like AR and VR.
When it comes to ecosystem preparation, Choi said Samsung is particularly keen to expand the Wi-Fi 6E environment, including current work with some major Wi-Fi (AP) access point vendors.
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Netgear recently traded the first multi-purpose three-band Wi-Fi 6E router and Intel announced a second-gen Wi-Fi module with Extended Wi-Fi 6E support. Choi believes other AP manufacturers and retailers will follow suit.
“With the growing number of APs, you will have better access to the internet” along with the benefits of a close runway for faster speeds and seamless connections.
Improving the S21 Ultra
When Wi-Fi 6 was first introduced, Samsung and Cisco quietly tested the capabilities as the latter began to introduce the new standard in the next generation of network equipment. Samsung gave Cisco smartphones modified Galaxy S9 sporting Wi-Fi 6 chipsets for the yet-to-release Galaxy S10.
When it comes to Wi-Fi 6E, Samsung was once again developing a mobile device before business certifications were in place. The Wi-Fi Alliance just launched their certification program for 6E to deliver interoperability for devices in the 6 GHz band in early January.
That means Samsung needs to get a little creative for the S21 Ultra. Previously, Choi led his team to launch features such as Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Sharing, Wi-Fi 5, and Wi-Fi 6 for the first time in the market.
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“We had many challenges when preparing Wi-Fi 6 for the S21 Ultra, mainly because there was no commercially available infrastructure to test it, but also because the regulatory body was not. global, the Wi-Fi Alliance, has yet to launch certification programs. , ”Choi explained in a recent video.
Similar to the S10 effort, Samsung partnered with Wi-Fi AP makers to define Wi-Fi 6E performance and compatibility, he said.
At the same time, engineers had to work together and with remote partners in different parts of the world because the Covid-19 pandemic caused shifts in the usual collaborative modes.
Samsung also made their Intelligent Wi-Fi solution for the S21, which analyzes and predicts app data traffic patterns in real time. If a network connection breakdown is expected, a connection will be switched to Wi-Fi or cellular to optimize and minimize disruption, Choi explained.
In addition to its focus on smartphones, Samsung is working to promote the adoption of Wi-Fi 6E through partnerships with industry groups such as the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), Wi-Fi Alliance, and com- partners like Cisco and Netgear for trade.