Good guesses, though you got the cpu and Marvell chip mixed up, it’s the other way around (see CCR/RDS2216, similar layout/heatsinks)
It’s really quiet regarding the new devices. Also would love to have a stable Wifi 7 AP by next year.
I'm already hooked on the Mikrotik scout Meshtastic node! Can't wait to order a few of these to replace my DIY nodes with 3D-printed cases.
This is really awesome, I would never have expected Mikrotik to go into Meshtastic & Meshcore!
as already said above, SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!
get in line sir!
Can we order now the mAP 52axD???
I pay more!!
The mAP ax looks really good. The only thing I am concerned about is the antenna gain for 2.4GHz. It is listed as 0.5 dBi. Is this a typo?
Might be correct as well ... small physical dimensions don't allow for a proper antenna ... and properly omni-directional designs (I'm not saying mAP ax is one of them) can't have antenna gain higher than around 2dBi by definition.
OK, but this would be a downgrade. The current mAP models are listed with a gain of 1.2 and 1.5.
Moreover, the PDF shows a gain of 7 dBi for 5GHz, but then only 0.5 for 2.4GHz, hmm.
I sincerely don't think that 1dBi of antenna gain difference would make much of a real-life difference. Specially so if one uses mAP in a close-range setups (used in same room and distance between mAP and station less than a few meters). And mAP is not really a device of choice when distance has to be longer ("normal" AP or used in station mode).
OTOH it's AX device meaning it supports much higher bitrates than N device ... given sufficiently good signal.
I agree that 1dBi would not make much of a difference.
However my use case would be a bit different. Due to its size the mAP ax would be a perfect travel router where I would use it to connect to the 2.4Ghz Wifi of a hotel in station mode. 5GHz is not always available in each room or close to the beach 
But with 0.5 dBi I guess this would be difficult. Or am I wrong?
Why does this bother you?
0.5 dBi is an almost isotropic antenna (to be precise, 1.12 times better than an isotropic one)—that is, it radiates almost equally in all directions.
Not really. It might be an almost perfect dipole (which is the closest to isotropic antenna[*] and has gain of 2.15dBi) ... or it can be a shitty pseudo-omnidirectional antenna with radiation pattern shaped like a doughnut with warts but failing to reach gain of 4-5dBi which is usual for decent antennas.
[*] true isotropic antenna with gain of 0dBi would be electric monopole ... which doesn't exist. Closest is a lambda/2 dipole antenna with (altready mentioned) gain of 2.15dBi, but its radiation pattern looks similar to doughnut ... with zero radiated power along dipole axis (which makes possible positive gain). The problem is, that with 2.4GHz wavelength is around 12.5cm and ideal dipole would be a 6.25cm long stick ... too long for truly compact devices. Then there are more compact antennas but those inevitably come with worse gain.
In my opinion, antenna gain is a secondary parameter for an access point (AP); first of all, the main value is the power supplied by the amplifier.
Antenna gain (or radiation pattern) for AP very often does not affect the quality of operation due to the presence of reflective obstacles in the extremely-near field (the design of the AP itself) and unpredictable reflections from third-party objects.
In my practice, I encountered a situation where the signal from an AP installed in an underground parking lot practically disappeared—dropping to an unusable level (-90 to -95 dBm)—within just 3 to 5 meters. Surprisingly, it then reappeared with excellent signal strength (-50 to -65 dBm) at 25 to 30+ meters, after 2 to 3 turns from the installation point..
You are (very) incorrect
modern AP's are (conducted) power and E.I.R.P limited by regulations
Effectlvely, the power amplifier is very much capable of putting 200~1000mw of power in the air, but is regulatory limited to something much more civilized (for most of Europe, 20dB EIRP, that is: antenna+conducted )
on the other hand,laptops and mobile phones are architecturally limited by cheap wifi adapters (mostly no dedicated P.A. stage in the case of laptop wifi adapters), and in the case of phones, aggressive thermal and power-saving constraints
this puts most phone's conducted TX-Power in the 10~15db category
and most Laptop's conducted TX-Power in the 15~17db category
given this constraints, i've seen RX gain described as "free db from heaven"
by matching antenna gain / directionality with the "local geography" / floorplan, one can maximize how much signal is received from your tatrget areas, and (for instance) minimize sending and receiving radiation from non-tatrget areas
the advantage is compounded: less interference caused to an above floor, less interference listened from the above floor, and (in most practical cases) 3~5 db more RX RSSI from your target area (remember, the phone can't speak louder, but the AP can listen with bigger(more directional) ears)
this is why we have
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ceiling AP's with downward-360º facing lobe geometry
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wall-mount AP-s with 120º "sideways" lobe geometry
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and most modern routers have a 5.5~7dbi dipole, that results in a "flatter" doughnut shaped radiation pattern if compared to the more traditional 2.1dbi irradiator .
The end result is ~free 3db extra RX from the mobile-->AP, and less signal directed in the floor/ceiling d
To add to what @guipoletto wrote: back in time when I was working as senior radio engineer for MNO (largest in my country), we had a saying: "you can't fix with Tx power / DSP software in receiver what's fucked up by using bad antenna".
But then we were working with professional gear and even mobile devices (phones) were much better radios than any WiFi gear is (because they were subject to strict testing and certification). I can't say anything about 5G devices as I'm no longer working in telco industry.
An image is worth a thousand words, the higher the gain, the flatter the doughnut becomes:
I do not agree with guipoletto sentiment. He is talking about textbook phisics, but in real life the situation is different, or at least, it is overstated for this case.
We’re not talking about long distance outdoor links or Yagi antennas. These are indoor APs designed specifically for homes and offices. MikroTik did not just randomly attach an antenna and hope for the best. The antenna pattern is part of the product design, meant to work in normal rooms with nearby clients, walls, furniture, reflections, and devices pointing in all kinds of directions.
Also, MikroTik APs follow EIRP limits. If the antenna has more gain, the AP backs off the conducted power so the total radiated power stays legal. So you do not magically get extra downlink power.
Yes, antenna pattern matters for some mounting situations, maybe uplink. But on a normal indoor AP, going from 2 dBi to 5–6 dBi is usually not some huge “free dB from heaven” improvement. It is mostly just a slightly different broad pattern, already designed for that indoor use case.
In real homes, placement, walls, interference, channel choice, client orientation, and the number of APs usually matter much more than the antenna gain number on paper.
The problem is the RX side, not TX side. Better antenna design means more RX sensitivity which means the weaker portable devices (phones/laptops/IoT devices/etc), which are the limiting factor in range/speed have higher SNRs at the AP. Antenna pattern matters a lot, you cannot think of it just as a TX pattern, it's TX and RX.
You want to match your antenna pattern to your device locations, which is why placement matters so much, in addition to the antenna design itself.
Yes. Bigger "ears" for the weak percentage of the phone/laptop's signal that you actually get. Any radio can TX at full limits, but hearing is where it really counts.
As much as I like my MikroTik gear, the consumer routers (hAP AC2/3, AX2/3) just aren't cutting it in a large percentage of our home installations, The number one complaint is weak signal (even with the AC3/AX3 external antennas). Since most homes don't have CAT5/6 or coax to run as a backhaul between the router and a second AP, our only option is vendors who support meshing.
A MikroTIk router/AP combo that used 6GHz (or, like the Audience, a second 5GHz band) for backhaul between devices would be very welcome.