Samsung is trumpeting a Wi-Fi breakthrough that it says will offer Wi-Fi speeds that could rival the fastest fiber speeds available today. Using the 60 GHz spectrum band and beamforming technology, Samsung says it has achieved Wi-Fi speeds of up to 575 megabytes per second. That’s ten times faster than the speeds obtained by devices that support 802.11ac Wi-Fi, the fastest commercially available Wi-Fi technology. 802.11ac offers 433 megabits-per-second (or about 54 megabytes per second) per band. While access points may support multiple bands, user devices typically support just one.
The speeds reported by Samsung would enable users to download a 1 GB video file in less than three seconds, potentially putting superfast Wi-Fi into competition with the high-speed broadband offered by AT&T and Verizon.
Samsung hopes to have new Wi-Fi devices on the market by next year, and plans to deploy superfast Wi-Fi in home entertainment systems and medical devices as well as in smartphones. The company did not say whether it will produce the Wi-Fi chips for the new devices, but earlier this month Samsung did announce a $14.5 billion investment in a new semiconductor plant in South Korea.
Although Samsung plays in many markets, mobile devices became the company’s most important product as it rocketed to the No. 1 position in smartphone sales. Recently, Samsung’s margins in mobile have been squeezed by competition from Apple in the developed markets and from Chinese manufacturers in other markets. A breakthrough Wi-Fi technology could help reverse what has become a troubling trend for Samsung.
“We are seeing consumer interest in Samsung slide across most all the segments we track, including [smartphones], tablets, laptops, IoT, and appliances,” said analyst John Feland of Argus Insights, which uses social media to track and predict device sales. Feland said that in the world’s largest market, Samsung is losing ground. “Our results from China show consistent quarterly drops in consumer interest, well below local brands,” he said.
In other news from China, China Mobile has signed a major 4G contract with Nokia. For more on that see the video below.
http://youtu.be/FowGdCytBsE
