ZTE launched the Xuntian BE3600 Qingyun Edition in China on October 29, 2026, introducing an entry-level Wi-Fi 7 router with an introductory price of 199 yuan ($30) ahead of a standard 249 yuan ($37) retail price.
Available through Chinese retailer JD.com, the Xuntian BE3600 Qingyun Edition is the first model in ZTE's Xuntian router lineup to adopt a standing vertical enclosure rather than a flat desktop chassis with external folding antennas. According to Gizmochina, the white vertical shell features a subtle wave texture across its exterior and houses internal antennas.
Operating as a dual-band IEEE 802.11be router across the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, the Xuntian BE3600 Qingyun Edition reaches a combined theoretical wireless throughput of up to 3.57 Gbps. Because the hardware omits the 6 GHz spectrum and 320 MHz channel widths, it relies on 4096-QAM (4K QAM) modulation and Multi-Link Operation (MLO) to boost link rates and aggregate the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously for compatible Wi-Fi 7 clients.
Internally, the router runs on ZTE's fourth-generation six-core processor architecture, which pairs a dual-core CPU with a quad-core NPU for hardware-accelerated packet forwarding. Instead of integrating the 2.4 GHz radio into the main system-on-chip, ZTE added a dedicated Wi-Fi chip to process wireless traffic separately and reduce CPU overhead.
To reach the $30 price point, ZTE trimmed the wired interface compared to its pricier Pro variants. The Xuntian BE3600 Qingyun Edition includes three 1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports and omits a 2.5GbE port, capping wired throughput for users on multi-gigabit fiber plans. Despite the three-port ceiling, the firmware supports dual WAN configurations, allowing households to terminate two separate broadband lines simultaneously for traffic load balancing or automatic connection failover. The ports also support IPTV single-cable multiplexing to carry both internet and set-top box television streams over a single Ethernet run.
The unit connects with other compatible ZTE routers to form a unified mesh network or operates as a wired access point behind a third-party primary gateway. Network configuration, parental controls, Wi-Fi scheduling, IPv4/IPv6 settings, and an AI-assisted visual coverage planning tool are managed through the ZTE Smart Life mobile app. ZTE has not announced international pricing or availability outside China, where the Xuntian BE3600 Qingyun Edition joins a growing wave of sub-$40 dual-band Wi-Fi 7 routers competing to replace legacy Wi-Fi 6 hardware.
