Given the always-connected nature of Chromebooks, when you have a great Wi-Fi connection, your user experience is naturally going to be better. MediaTek is trying to help make it even better with its latest Filogic chips, setting the stage for a new range of Wi-Fi 7 enabled devices. These chips will find their place in an array of gadgets, from 5G home routers, to enterprise-grade access points, and mesh systems that power our connection to the web.
The Filogic 860 and Filogic 360 Chips
During the MediaTek annual Executive Summit last week, the company released two new chipsets that expand on their connectivity portfolio: the Filogic 860 and the Filogic 360. The flagship Filogic 860 chip offers dual-band access and robust network processing capabilities. Equipped with a triple-core Arm Cortex A73 CPU, it’s well-suited for large enterprise needs and high-end Wi-Fi 7 consumer routers. MediaTek says this chip will excel in advanced tunneling, security, and seamless Wi-Fi 7 traffic routing in mesh networks.
On the other hand, the Filogic 360 is a standalone chip designed for consumer electronics like smartphones, laptops, and streaming devices. It supports triple-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz) and offers speeds up to 2.9Gbps. Integrated with two Bluetooth 5.4 cores, it’s ideal for gaming and BLE audio, featuring the latest LC3 codec. The chip also includes MediaTek’s unique technology to mitigate interference in the 2.4GHz band and extend the range of devices.
Why it matters
MediaTek was among the first to embrace Wi-Fi 7 with a demo at CES 2022 where they showed off speeds more than double those of the current Wi-Fi 6 and 6E technologies. Although Wi-Fi 7 is still in its early stages and will take a while to fully roll out, MediaTek’s second-generation Filogic chips are geared up to maximize the potential of this new standard across various devices.
As our networks continue to get more crowded with more devices, Wi-Fi technology has to evolve to keep up with the demand. Right now in our office, we have 18 devices currently connected and sometimes it’s many, many more. With Chromebooks, phones, smartwatches, robot vacuums, and streaming dongles all connected, it’s sometimes hard for older Wi-Fi to juggle these connections. With these new chips in routers and devices, we will be able to more easily achieve peak performance.
MediaTek has already begun distributing samples of the Filogic 860 and 360 chips to manufacturers, with the first Wi-Fi 7 capable devices expected to hit the market around mid-2024. This development marks a significant milestone in the evolution of wireless technology, bringing faster, more reliable, and more versatile connectivity to both the consumer and enterprise sectors.
