2026 WLAN Growth Could Be Hampered by Memory Shortages
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – March 13, 2026 – 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, Cisco’s aggressive Wi-Fi 7 pricing strategy has allowed the company to eke out first place in Indoor AP Wi-Fi 7 revenue share, just ahead of Huawei.
“Cisco’s Wi-Fi 7 adoption has been faster than any of their prior WLAN technology ramps,” said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “But there is still a long adoption runway ahead and we expect Wi-Fi 7 revenue go keep growing across the market in 2026.
“We are predicting double-digit growth in WLAN revenue for 2026, but there remains a cloud on the horizon. The AI build-out has caused a shortage in DDR4 memory, required in most modern WLAN Access Points. We expect prices to rise as supply tightens, and if constraints deteriorate further, equipment lead times could grow and prices could escalate.”
Additional highlights from the 4Q 2025 Wireless LAN Quarterly Report:
- Ubiquiti has increased its rank in the list of WLAN market share leaders.
- Public Cloud-managed WLAN revenue outpaced the market, especially in the Large Enterprise & Service Provider segment.
- Financial & Professional services remained the largest vertical in 2025, with spending growing by double digits, fueled by large enterprises.
The Dell’Oro Group Wireless LAN Quarterly Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Enterprise Outdoor and Indoor markets, Wireless LAN Controllers and Licenses, with tables containing manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and unit shipments by the following wireless standards: 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 portrayed by Public Cloud vs. Premises and Private Cloud deployments, by geographic region, as well as by ten Vertical markets. To purchase these reports, 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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