TECHNICAL
AT HOME WITH SMART CONNECTED DEVICES
Household appliances, smart meters and sports equipment all utilise variants of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi dominates the smart home market with a share of 40% in 2024, reports PS Market Research. 5 Research from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of smart homes in Europe and North America reached 126.2 million in 2023. 6 By 2028, the firm estimates that about 83.8 million homes in North America will be smart, equal to 55% of all homes in the region. The European market is still somewhat behind the North American, in terms of market penetration. The number of smart homes in Europe is forecast to reach about 101.2 million at the end of 2028, representing a market penetration of close to 42%. Wi-Fi is the essential enabler of smart home connectivity because it is typically already present in the home so it’s simple for home-owners to add appliances, devices and products to their existing network. SMART LAUNDRY, REFRIGERATION AND THERMOSTATS One use case that has been an early adopter of Wi-Fi is washing machines. These have added value to consumer by enabling apps to set functions and control machine cycles and adoption is continuing to accelerate. Technavio also reports that the smart washing machine market is set to grow by US$25.46 billion at a CAGR of 20.65% between 2023 and 2028. 7
Figure 2: Specifications of key Wi-Fi standards. Source: Counterpoint Wi-Fi Chipset Market Report
to adoption for low average selling price (ASP) markets, says the firm.
This is borne out in Counterpoint Research’s projections for the Wi-Fi chipset market for which it expects revenue to increase by 12% year-on- year in 2025.3 Wi-Fi 5 is expected to have retained its dominance in 2024 with a projected 56% market share, but the rapid rise of Wi-Fi 6, 6E and Wi-Fi 7 standards is underway. In 2024, Wi-Fi 6, 6E and 7 will collectively capture 29% of the market, which is expected to increase to 43% by 2025, the firm says. This transition mirrors the rapid shift from Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 5 and reflects the need for faster, more robust internet across multiple devices. Wi-Fi 7 will enable significant innovation into the Wi-Fi ecosystem in 2024, says ABI Research, as the new standard introduces a series of enhancements that will significantly improve capacity and performance. Access to the 6GHz band will expand the available spectrum, addressing capacity challenges, and headline features such as multi-link operation (MLO) will enhance spectrum
Counterpoint Research also acknowledges that Wi-Fi 7 is at an early stage of deployment but thinks the technology is set for broader adoption by late 2025 as infrastructure and technology support catch up. The firm says the need for Wi-Fi 7’s enhanced capabilities will increase with AI gradually becoming a core component in PCs and flagship smartphones, pushing the demand for ultra-fast connections. The adoption of Wi-Fi 7 is likely to surpass that of previous Wi-Fi generations thanks to its critical role in providing next-generation connectivity for a wide range of applications, from edge AI to augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and IoT. HIGH-VOLUME CONSUMER AND PROSUMER USE CASES Wi-Fi’s cost efficiency means it can be added to everything from smart speakers and cameras through to PCs, tablets and TVs. The smart speaker market, for example, is booming as users find the convenience of accessing intelligent virtual assistants via voice commands compelling. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity offer seamless integration with other products and systems and this market is set to grow by US$50.8 billion in the period 2024-2028 according to Technavio. 4 The market will experience a CAGR of 34.28% during the period 2023-2028.
efficiency, helping to overcome interference issues in congested environments.
These new features will also allow Wi-Fi to serve new applications that the technology previously could not satisfy but challenges remain. Many regions still lack unlicensed 6GHz access, severely restricting the performance gains they can expect from the technology. In addition, the cost of Wi-Fi 7 is considerably higher than Wi-Fi 6, which may pose a barrier
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MARCH 2026 Volume 48 No.1
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