802.11ac to dominate mobile-handset market

In a recent brief, market research and analyst firm ABI Research said that almost every smartphone shipped this year will offer some form of WiFi capability. “However, a new WiFi protocol will begin to dominate mobile devices soon,” the brief continued. “The IEEE 802.11ac WiFi protocol will begin to conquer the existing protocols [802.11b, g and n] in the next two to three years.”

Senior analyst Josh Flood added, “The WiFi 802.11ac protocol offers several advantages over the current and most commonly used 802.11n protocol. Firstly, the wireless connection speed will be quicker; the new protocol also offers better range and improved reliability, and superior power consumption. It’s also capable of multiple 2x2 streams and should be particularly good for gaming experiences and HD video streaming on mobile devices.”

ABI Research offers a Mobile Device Technologies research service and recently published a document titled “Mobile Device Enabling Technologies” that examines the forthcoming rise of 802.11ac. That document also analyzes GPS, Bluetooth, speech-recognition, nearfield communication, camera and other technologies for mobile handsets and smartphones.