802.11ac Wi-Fi CPE Shipments to Capture 18% of the Total 176 Million Access Points in 2014

The worldwide Wi-Fi customer premises equipment (CPE) market is expected to grow 11% in 2014. According to ABI Research’s Market Data, Wi-Fi Customer Premise Equipment, total shipments of Wi-Fi access points, routers, and residential gateways are set to surpass 176 million units by the end of 2014. “Growth is expected in all regions, driven by increased broadband penetration and more connected devices in homes,” commented Jake Saunders, VP and practice director.

Since its WLAN market inception in 2013, shipments of the 802.11ac standard have accelerated. In the consumer Wi-Fi equipment market, D-Link and NETGEAR lead 802.11ac access point shipments. “The combined shipments of the two companies represented more than 20% of worldwide 802.11ac shipments in 1Q 2014. ABI Research expects that nearly 32 million 802.11ac access points will be shipped in 2014,” added Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst.

Shipments of Wi-Fi devices with older generation standards such as 802.11a/b/g have dropped significantly over the past few years as they were replaced by 802.11n products. Rapidly growing Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices and multimedia applications continue to drive demand for higher performance Wi-Fi equipment. ABI Research expects that accelerating 802.11ac deployments will cause a downward trend in older 802.11n standard devices starting from the end of 2014.

The enterprise Wi-Fi market has also experienced increased deployments of 802.11ac devices. Cisco and Aruba Networks sold the largest numbers of 802.11ac access points in the enterprise Wi-Fi market; a combined total of 0.1 million 802.11ac access points in 1Q 2014. The enterprise class Wi-Fi equipment market is expected to grow to generate revenues of $US8.1 billion by the end of 2019.

ABI Research’s report covers the worldwide consumer and enterprise WLAN equipment market. It tracks equipment by product type, wireless protocol, and geography.It also contains market shares of leading WLAN equipment manufacturers worldwide based on quarterly shipment data and forecasts.

These findings are part of the Broadband CPE and Wi-Fi Market Research.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 70+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.