When it was released in 2007, the iPhone forever changed the cellphone market, setting the blueprint for what was to come. It wasn't the first touchscreen phone, the first media player, or the first way to access the Internet on the go, but it combined these functions into a cohesive whole. Then the App Store launched, and it's hard to see our current ability to summon taxis or food at the press of a button without it. Apple Pay wasn't the first NFC payment method, Siri wasn't the first digital assistant, and the list goes on, but all of these technologies are cemented in our lives because of how widespread the iPhone is.

The iPhone 16 follows this trend, with Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. It isn't the first phone to use the latest wireless standard—that was the Xiaomi 13 Pro. But with over 26 thousand iPhones sold every hour in 2023, the iPhone 16 will likely be the widest-adopted Wi-Fi 7 device. If you're planning on upgrading, you might also want to consider upgrading your router.

iPhone sets tech adoption trends

This isn't the first Wi-Fi 7 device, but it might as well have been

With the launch of the iPhone 16, there are now 46 different iPhone models. While not every model brought major changes, each sold like hotcakes, cementing the technology into the national and then international consciousness. I was in the UK when the iPhone 3GS debuted, and I'd never seen crowded lines for any tech product other than a video game console before that day. At the time, the competition was more varied, with some touchscreen phones, some sliders with keyboards, and some feature phones with a keyboard, like Blackberry. The iPhone was the first time a multitouch touchscreen was used on a phone, which made the user experience better and opened up the door to actions like pinch-to-zoom that are standard fare now.

Today, the phone market is less interesting. With touchscreens everywhere, the only big differentiation is whether a device folds. Smartphones, gaming consoles, TVs, and computers all have app stores where you can pick up trusted software. Flagship phones come with the latest connectivity, whether the surrounding ecosystem is there or not, and voice assistants are the norm. So are high-resolution video recording, digital compasses, the lack of headphone jacks, and dozens of other features that the iPhone popularized, for good or for ill. Wi-Fi 7 didn't debut on the iPhone 16, although this is the first iPhone with the latest standard, but the inclusion will drive adoption across the market.

Expect more Wi-Fi 7 routers to appear

They'll likely get cheaper, too

The wider adoption of Wi-Fi 7 devices will also spur networking equipment manufacturers to produce more affordable Wi-Fi 7 routers. While consumer devices have included Wi-Fi 7 for a while now, the standard wasn't officially certified until the beginning of 2024. Perhaps that's why there is a relatively small list of routers on the market, but that will change rapidly now. I expect most of these new routers to be mesh, mainly because that's where the industry is going for consumer hardware. The prices should drop, too, as while iPhone users are used to paying a premium for their devices, the current Wi-Fi 7 router pricing is geared at early adopters, not mass adoption.

It's not just the iPhone 16 that will drive Wi-Fi 7 adoption across the industry. Windows 11 included support early this year, opening the way for laptops and desktops with the speedy wireless protocol. Future Macs will likely get it in the next refreshes, and you'll be hard-pressed to find any consumer device not using the latest Wi-Fi standard. It's not clear exactly how much the improvements in Wi-Fi 7 will improve things, but if Wi-Fi 6E adoption is anything to go by, we still have a few years before the wider ecosystem catches up. But, it will catch up, as now networking companies have a captive audience to sell to.

The release of the iPhone 16 is just what Wi-Fi 7 needed

Wi-Fi 7 isn't just in the hands of early adopters now. It's about to be in the hands of millions of everyday users who expect a certain level of premium experience with their iPhones. Wi-Fi 7 is part of that overall user experience, even if you will need to upgrade your router to experience it. Just know that Wi-Fi stability and speed can be affected by interference and other issues, even if Wi-Fi 7 brings new ways to work around congestion, like 320MHz wide 6GHz bands, which are underutilized in the U.S. And while Wi-Fi 7 will make for a better experience transferring data between devices on your home network, the speed your ISP supplies controls your internet experience so you might want to consider upgrading that as well.