Asus unveils 20-sided ROG NeoCore Wi‑Fi 8 proof of concept at CES 2026

At CES 2026, Asus previewed the ROG NeoCore, a proof-of-concept Wi‑Fi 8 router notable for its 20-sided icosahedron shape.

Concrete technical details are limited: Asus has not disclosed the chipset, band count, or features, though images show what appear to be three Ethernet ports, heat vents and a power input. ZDNET's Kyle Kucharski, who saw the NeoCore in person, noted it includes a hook for wall mounting and said the form factor may be hard to fit on a side table, so Asus might opt for a more conventional design for any retail product.

Asus framed Wi‑Fi 8 as primarily a stability upgrade, saying its routers are designed to address four core connectivity challenges: reduce speed degradation, improve connection stability, strengthen two-way communication for low-power IoT devices, and better manage congested networks. The company claims Wi‑Fi 8 will deliver up to twice the midrange throughput, twice the IoT coverage and as much as 6x lower P99 latency compared with Wi‑Fi 7, and ZDNET has noted standards work such as Coordinated Spatial Reuse could underpin those gains.

Asus says it plans to release its first Wi‑Fi 8 home routers later this year, but the NeoCore is only a proof of concept and there is no guarantee it will ship in its current form. The IEEE's most recent status update said Wi‑Fi 8 (aka IEEE 802.11) will not be finalized until 2028, leaving open how soon final-standard devices will appear.

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Tech, Asus, Rog Neocore, Ieee, Kyle Kucharski