Is LiFi Transitioning to LiFi 2.0?
Image credit to LiFi Tech News
By LiFi Tech News Team
Let me explain
For the past 16 years, Light Fidelity, better known as LiFi, has been steadily carving out its place in the wireless landscape. Far from being a mere theoretical concept, LiFi has been deployed in fully functional commercial systems across the globe. These earlier generations of LiFi successfully used both visible and infrared light to deliver secure connectivity in environments where radio frequencies struggled, such as high-security facilities and interference-sensitive hospitals. However, while these systems worked well, they were often defined by high implementation costs, proprietary hardware, and the necessity of external USB LiFi dongles, keeping them largely within the realm of niche enterprise solutions rather than mass-market consumer adoption.
As we move deeper into 2026, the narrative is evolving. We are witnessing a fundamental shift in how the technology is standardised and integrated. We are moving from an era of functional but exclusive commercial installations to a progressive, standardised, mass-market era that can rightly be called LiFi 2.0. The question is no longer about whether the technology works, that has been proven for over a decade, but rather how this new iteration will scale to become an invisible, essential layer of our wireless future.
Early LiFi systems and many current reliable deployments rely on LEDs and infrared components. While LED-based LiFi remains a viable and important technology that will continue to serve specific use cases, the move to LiFi 2.0 is characterised by the introduction of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs). By using laser technology and the infrared spectrum, this new generation bypasses the physical modulation limits of standard phosphor-coated LEDs. This shift unlocks potential speeds in the Terabits-per-second range, transforming LiFi from a secure alternative into a high-performance backbone capable of supporting the massive data loads required by 6G networks.
VCSELs are semiconductor lasers, more specifically laser diodes with a monolithic laser resonator, where the emitted light leaves the device in a direction perpendicular to the chip surface. The operating principle of a VCSEL follows the standard laser process: Electrical current injection excites electrons in the active region. Stimulated emission occurs when excited electrons recombine with holes. Photons bounce vertically between the DBR mirrors, amplifying light. LED is only suitable for speeds of up to 200Mb/s and they are not used for gigabit connections. VCSEL is typically used for Short Reach (SR) Multimode connections at 1Gb/s, 10Gb/s, and 25Gb/s.
The defining image of the earlier commercial era was often a laptop tethered to a robust sensor via a USB cable. In the LiFi 2.0 era, the focus is on extreme miniaturisation. Thanks to advancements in VCSEL technology, sensors have shrunk to the size of standard camera modules. This can allows them to be embedded directly into the bezels of smartphones, desktop computers, tablets and laptops, eliminating the need for external accessories and paving the way for native integration.
Ultimately, LiFi 2.0 is more than just a marketing version number. It represents a maturation of the ecosystem that builds upon the solid foundation laid over the last 16 years. While LED-based systems will continue to play a role, the addition of laser-based technologies to LiFi systems marks the beginning of a new chapter where light becomes a ubiquitous, invisible fibre-optic cable for everyone. So in summary is LiFi transioning to LiFi 2.0? Probably yes but not fully
