According to one embodiment of the invention, a network device comprises a plurality of antenna elements, one or more hardware processors, and a memory communicatively coupled to the one or more hardware processors. The memory comprises selective beamforming grouping logic that, upon execution by the one or more processors, aggregates a plurality of beamforming-enabled client devices within a coverage area of the network device. Furthermore, the selective beamforming grouping logic further categorizes the plurality of beamforming-enabled client devices into a plurality of groups based on a data transfer rate level supported by each of the plurality of beamforming-enabled client devices, determines a subset of client devices within a first group of the plurality of groups associated with a lowest data transfer rate level, and applies transmit beamforming simultaneously or at least concurrently for each client device of the subset of client devices.