"Since 2009, over 9 billion Wi-Fi enabled devices have been shipped," said Peter Cooney, ABI Research wireless connectivity practice director. "Whilst growth was driven by networking in the early years, the smartphone soon became the major market. Growth in the next few years will be increasingly driven by a whole host of applications in the mobile and connected home space."

One key growth area is the connected home, in particular the increasingly popular connected TV. Wi-Fi is currently widely used for internet access in connected TVs, but wired connections are also used in many cases. Seventeen million Wi-Fi enabled flat panel TVs were shipped in 2011. That grew to 30 million in 2012, and shipments are forecast to grow four-fold by 2017.

These findings are part of ABI Research's Wi-Fi Research Service.

Source: ABI Research