The introduction of the latest generation of Wi-Fi®—Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™—marked the beginning of a new era for Wi-Fi, and the allocation of new spectrum in the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use by regulators worldwide is paving the way for Wi-Fi 6E to deliver an ever-increasing number of benefits to businesses and consumers.
The benefits of Wi-Fi 6 include higher data rates, increased capacity, excellent performance in environments with many connected devices, and improved power efficiency. With these advantages, Wi-Fi 6 provides the foundation for a myriad of current and emerging use cases, such as unified communications, cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and telepresence.
Wi-Fi 6E will deliver innovative experiences for the most bandwidth-intensive applications by making use of the 6 GHz band. Wi-Fi 6E offers the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 extended into the 6 GHz frequency band. Wi-Fi 6E devices, which can now be certified under the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 program, brings the immense benefits of 6 GHz spectrum to consumers, device manufacturers, and service providers as the band is being made available around the world.
The capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E have been welcomed by enterprises and consumers alike. As a result, Wi-Fi 6 has seen strong adoption. In fact, Wi-Fi 6 is forecast to make up 79% of all Wi-Fi product shipments within the next two years. IDC estimates approximately:
- Two billion Wi-Fi 6 device shipments in 2021, or more than 50% of all Wi-Fi shipments
- More than 338 million Wi-Fi 6E devices will enter the market in 2021
- More than 3.5 billion Wi-Fi 6 product shipments in 2022, growing to 79% of product shipments
- Nearly 20% of all Wi-Fi 6 device shipments will support 6 GHz by 2022
- 5.2 billion Wi-Fi 6 product shipments by 2025, 41% of which will be Wi-Fi 6E devices
A wide array of products, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, networking products, and some premium tier home entertainment devices now feature Wi-Fi 6—and the number of products continues to grow. The chart below shows the staggering rates of adoption Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E will see in the next four years.
Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E products are available and primed to take full advantage of available unlicensed frequencies—including the 6 GHz spectrum band. The growth of Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E devices will unleash new innovation and Wi-Fi connectivity experiences for years to come.
The statements and opinions by each Wi-Fi Alliance member and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions or views of Wi-Fi Alliance or any other member. Wi-Fi Alliance is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information provided by any member in posting to or commenting on this blog. Concerns should be directed to info@wi-fi.org.
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