2028 Adoption of Wi-Fi 7 Will Eclipse Wi-Fi 6 Peak
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – August 7, 2025 – According to a recently published report from Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, excess inventory in the channel has been cleared, and WLAN revenue is expected to grow 12 percent in 2025. Wi-Fi 7 shipments will shoot up in 2025 and will represent over a third of Indoor AP revenues.
“We expect that in 2028, Wi-Fi 7 sales will represent over 90 percent of Indoor AP revenues, with the first enterprise class Wi-Fi 8 APs appearing on the market late that year,” said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Wi-Fi 6 never reached that level of penetration because Wi-Fi 6E was released to the market so quickly.
“Industry experts who sit on the key standards bodies are already working through the options for Wi-Fi 8. We predict a material upswing in Wi-Fi 8 adoption in 2029, which gives Wi-Fi 7 over 5 years on the market for vendors to recoup development costs,” added Morgan.
Additional highlights from the Wireless LAN 5-Year July 2025 Forecast Report:
- Lower Wi-Fi 7 price premiums are expected to boost market adoption of the technology.
- HPE’s acquisition of Juniper may help grow the worldwide Public Cloud-Managed WLAN market.
- Vendor WLAN software revenues are expected to keep growing, as Annual Recurring Revenue streams build up.
- Adoption of AI by enterprises is expected to put pressure on the Local Area Network and support spending on WLAN.
The Dell’Oro Group Wireless LAN 5-Year Forecast Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Enterprise Outdoor and Indoor markets, Wireless LAN Controllers with tables containing manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and unit shipments by the following wireless standards: 802.11bn (Wi-Fi 8), 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7), 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6 and 6E [6 GHz]), 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) Wave 1 vs. Wave 2, 802.11n, and historic IEEE 802.11 standards. The Enterprise market is forecast by Cloud vs. Premises Managed, as well as by macro region of the world. To purchase this report, please contact us by email at dgsales@delloro.com.
Dell’Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, security, enterprise networks, and data center infrastructure markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell’Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit www.delloro.com.
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