According to ABI Research, in 2013 cumulative shipments of Bluetooth-enabled devices will surpass 10 billion and Wi-Fi enabled devices will surpass 10 billion cumulative shipments in 2015.
“Increased diversification and building out product portfolios to include many wireless connectivity technologies is crucial to vendors’ current and future success,” said Peter Cooney, wireless connectivity practice director at ABI Research.
“This shows the level of penetration into the electronics market that wireless connectivity technologies have achieved, and there is a lot more to come as the consumers’ appetite for wire free solutions will continue unabated,” Cooney added.
ABI Research said standalone wireless connectivity ICs will be important as newer technologies such as Bluetooth Smart, WiGig, and NFC penetrate high volume applications and are increasingly adopted in developing markets such as sports & fitness, automotive, and retail.
In addition, connectivity combos will continue to see strong shipment and revenue growth particularly in high volume consumer markets such as laptops, tablets, and TVs. Platform solutions will see the strongest growth as these enable OEMs to achieve even faster time to market in very competitive areas such as low-end smartphones.
