Broadcom Updates Wi-Fi 7 Portfolio with Lower Cost Second Generation Silicon

Wi-Fi 7 has slowly gained traction in the market over the last few quarters. Despite the numerous product announcements towards the end of last year (including the usual suspects) ASUSNetgear, TP-Link), only TP-LINK seems to have started actual shipments to end users. On the silicon side, Mediatek unveiled both the access point and client platform for his Filogic 880/Filogic 380 solutions for the first time in his early 2022. Broadcom followed suit, with his BCM67263/BCM6726 for residential APs, his BCM43740/BCM43720 for enterprise APs, and BCM4398 for client devices. Qualcomm wasn’t left behind either, and in May 2022 (after unveiling his client-focused FastConnect 7800 in February 2022) he launched the Wi-Fi 7 Networking Pro series. Last year, Qualcomm marketed its FastConnect 7800 and Networking Pro Series Wi-Fi 7 platforms as the only solutions on the market that support high-band simultaneous multilink operating modes.

Broadcom today unveils its second generation Wi-Fi 7 platform with the aim of addressing cost effectiveness and achieving competitive parity.

Both first-generation products in the AP category in the comparison above were quad-stream. To optimize cost and deploy in a wider range of products, the two new AP platforms feature dual 2×2 configurations, capable of operating on all three bands simultaneously. The reduced number of streams reduces the PHY rate from 11.5 Gbps to 8.64 Gbps.

The Enterprise Wi-Fi AP Platform (BCM47722) now integrates Bluetooth and Zigbee / 802.15.4 support to meet IoT requirements. Both AP platforms feature an integrated quad-core ARMv8 CPU and 10G PHY, drawing on some of the features of the BCM4916 network processor used in the first-generation platform. Other key features include the platform’s ability to support simultaneous operation in any of the three bands, an integrated 2.4 GHz power amplifier, and various updates to reduce power consumption. The new platform enables tri-band MLO, offering significant latency benefits, especially in highly congested networks.

On the client side, the BCM4390 is offered as a cost-effective Wi-Fi 7 / Bluetooth combo chip to replace the BCM4398 introduced last year. It is still a 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz or 6 GHz dual stream radio configuration, but the supported channel width is reduced from 320 MHz to 160 MHz. PHY rate is 3.2 Gbps (compared to 6.05 Gbps for BCM4398). However, major advantages over the BCM4398 include integrated Bluetooth Denver, Thread and Zigbee support. In addition to the client multi-link operation supported by the BCM4398, the new BCM4390 also supports Broadcom’s proprietary SpeedBooster technology, allowing multiple 160 MHz BCM4390-based client devices to communicate with Broadcom-based Wi-Fi 7 APs. Makes better use of available bandwidth. Supports 320 MHz channels.

Almost all Wi-Fi 7 home routers shipping today are based on Broadcom’s first-generation AP platform. One of the downsides from a go-to-market perspective is the price, with most models selling for over $600. Broadcom’s new platform should help a bit in this regard with stream count reductions and other cost optimizations. Broadcom’s press releases include quotes from vendors like ASUS, as well as the usual OEMs of his (Arcadyan and Sercomm). Sampling of the new silicon has already started, so we should see more attractively priced Wi-Fi 7 products in the next few quarters.