Most smartphones released after year 2015 are using 2x2 SU-MIMO chip already except those low end smartphones. Flagship smartphones released after year 2016 (e.g: Samsung Galaxy S7) are using 2x2 MU-MIMO chip (802.11ac Wave 2) most of them are powered by the Wi-Fi chip leader + hegemon Broadcom (Broadcom Numba Wan).

But in recent years still have some guilty smartphone vendors use 802.11n single-band 1x1 chip on their low end smartphones to cut cost + clear inventory like Huawei Nova 3i (2018), Huawei Y5 (2019), Redmi 7 (2019), Realme 3 (2019), Realme C2 (2019), Samsung Galaxy A10 (2019), Samsung Galaxy A20 (2019).

TP-Link a freaking networking company usually will also use their old inventory of 802.11n chips on their low end smartphones like Neffos C9 and Neffos C7. Well at least TP-Link did put a 802.11n dual-band chip into their mid range smartphones like the Neffos Y7. 802.11n dual-band chips were very popular among flagship smartphones around year 2011-2013 before smartphone vendors adopt the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, most notably used by the original iPad (2010), iPad 2 (2011), Samsung Galaxy S2 (2011), Samsung Galaxy Nexus (2011), Samsung Galaxy S3 (2012), HTC Amaze 4G (2011), HTC One X (2012). Yes, they all have 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi.

Smartphones released before 2013 are using 1x1 SU-MIMO for example that flagship Samsung Galaxy S4, if it's 802.11n then the max data rate on 5 GHz is 150 Mbps, if it's 802.11ac like the one can be found on HTC One M7 (2013) then the max data rate on 5 GHz is 433.3 Mbps. FYI HTC One M7 is actually the first smartphone with a 802.11ac chip powered by Broadcom Wi-Fi + Bluetooth + FM radio combo chip all the way back in 2013.

Samsung began to support 2x2 SU-MIMO (802.11ac Wave 1) in year 2014 on their Samsung Galaxy S5. In year 2015 Samsung continue to put 802.11ac 2x2 SU-MIMO Broadcom chip into their Samsung Galaxy S6 again. Apple began to support 802.11ac 1x1 SU-MIMO Broadcom chip in year 2014 on their Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. In year 2015 Apple only began to support 802.11ac 2x2 SU-MIMO Broadcom on their Apple iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. With 2x2 spatial stream all these smartphones can reach a theoretical data rate of 866.7 Mbps. It's year 2019 now but so far no smartphone in the world supports 3x3 MU-MIMO Wi-Fi radio yet.

On the side note, Samsung Galaxy S10 series (2019) are the first smartphones to support the next generation 802.11ax Wi-Fi standard.

This post has been edited by Garena: Oct 9 2019, 01:21 AM

You're welcome. if you want a peace of mind just go for the flagship smartphones, you'll get the latest and greatest 2x2 MU-MIMO chip, it can't be wrong.

Something I'd like to point out though it's a shame that in year 2019 those smartphone vendors still didn't put 802.11ax chip into their flagship smartphones like the Asus ROG Phone 2, Xiaomi Black Shark 2, Huawei P30 series, Xiaomi Mi 9, Redmi K20 Pro, LG G8. So far only Samsung did it with their Samsung Galaxy S10 series. Then there's another smartphone vendor OnePlus famously known for their "flagship killer" slogan with flagship specs at an affordable price? Release their OnePlus 7 Pro in May 2019 after Samsung Galaxy S10 in February 2019 but still failed to put a 802.11ax chip into their smartphone. Yeah right so called "flagship killer" , maybe need to wait year 2020.

Added more information into my previous post.

This post has been edited by Garena: Aug 24 2019, 01:30 PM