The Future of Wireless Broadband in the Peak Smartphone Era: 6G, Wi-Fi 7, and Wi-Fi 8

The field of wireless communications has traditionally been defined by what seems like unending exponential traffic growth. History suggests this trend is unlikely to continue in perpetuity, at least with the current set of applications, with recent evidence pointing to moderating traffic growth. In this article, we evaluate the implications of the peak smartphone era for those designing wireless networks within the context of the next-generation of wireless broadband technologies. First, three potential future demand scenarios are identified, ranging from a return to exponential traffic growth (optimistic) to continued moderation in growth (realistic) and even a scenario of declining traffic (pessimistic). Second, we compare the emerging properties of the 6th generation of cellular technology ("6G") envisioned by IMT2030 and two new Wi-Fi standards, including IEEE 802.11be ("Wi-Fi 7") and IEEE 802.11bn ("Wi-Fi 8"). Finally, an alternative vision for the future of wireless broadband is proposed, focusing on enhanced coverage, reduced deployment costs, and improved energy efficiency. Four key recommendations include use of neutral hosts for superior indoor coverage, ensuring spectrum sharing and intelligent handover/roaming integration between cellular, Wi-Fi, and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), providing strong support for infrastructure sharing and national roaming in rural and remote areas, and efficient (re)organizing of existing spectrum allocations.