The number of Wi-Fi enabled devices shipped in 2012 is expected to surpass 1.5 billion. Growth is occurring across many markets including mobile handsets, laptops, media tablets, printers, TVs, and automotive. according to a study by ABI Research. Since 2009, over 9 billion Wi-Fi enabled devices have been shipped. The report further shows that, whilst growth was driven by networking, in the early years the smartphone soon became the major market. Growth in the next few years is forecast to be increasingly driven by a whole host of applications in the mobile and connected home space.
The study indicates that one key growth area is the connected home, in particular the increasingly popular connected TV. Wi-Fi is currently widely used for internet access in connected TVs but wired connections are also used in many cases. Around 17 million Wi-Fi enabled flat panel TVs were shipped in 2011, this grew to 30 million in 2012 and is forecast to grow four-fold by 2017.
The top six leading suppliers of Wi-Fi ICs: Broadcom, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Marvell, Intel, and Texas Instruments accounted for over 85 percent of total market revenues in 2011, the report shows. Many of these suppliers have relied on the mobile handset and laptop markets to boost Wi-Fi IC revenues over the last few years but newer markets such as connected TVs will increasingly help to drive revenue going forward.
