The global Wi-Fi IoT market will grow steadily in the coming years. If in 2021 the number of connections was estimated by analysts at about 2.3 billion, by 2026 it will reach 6.7 billion. Such predictions were voiced by ABI Research.
According to experts, the pandemic has opened the prospect of remote work for the whole world and the importance in these conditions to have a reliable office and home network. Enterprises in the manufacturing segment rely heavily on the Internet of Things for a variety of applications, such as remote monitoring and workflow management, preventive maintenance and asset tracking. In turn, Wi-Fi serves as a means of connecting IoT devices and sensors, supporting both broadband and narrowband IoT applications.
Remote operation has also spurred consumer demand for connected home environments, sparking growth in smart home applications supported by IoT devices connected via a Wi-Fi connection.
Growing demand for Wi-Fi enabled applications and the emergence of new standards such as Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 have created a need for new software and hardware components such as Wi-Fi chipsets and devices that support the latest standards.
Analysts are also turning their attention to the Chinese Wi-Fi IoT market. It is expected to continue to grow at an average annual growth rate of 29% in the coming years, so that the number of connections will grow from 252 million in 2021 to 916.6 million in 2026.
With a population of about 1.4 billion, China accounts for about 40% of the global Wi-Fi IoT market, and analysts attribute the prospects of the Chinese Wi-Fi ecosystem precisely to the spread of the Internet of Things.