The worldwide WLAN market reached $3.2B in the second quarter of 2026 (2Q26), growing 23.2% year over year (YoY). That’s an acceleration from the 15.6% growth in 1Q26. The quarter’s growth reinforced Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) as the new dominant Wi-Fi standard in the enterprise.
Wi-Fi 7 is now the single largest revenue category in enterprise WLAN, reflecting a broad shift in enterprise purchasing priorities.
The results span all major regions and vendor tiers. The market has moved past its early-adoption phase into a full replacement cycle.
WLAN market highlights
- Total market: The worldwide WLAN market grew 23.2% YoY in 2Q26, reaching $3.2B. That’s a meaningful acceleration from the prior quarter. The enterprise dependent access point (AP) segment grew 27.6% YoY to $2.7B, outpacing the broader market and reflecting sustained corporate investment in dependent wireless infrastructure. The pace of growth suggests that enterprise Wi-Fi refresh cycles are broadening beyond early adopters to mainstream deployment.
- Wi-Fi 7 momentum: Wi-Fi 7 dependent AP revenues reached $1.4B in 2Q26, representing 53.0% of enterprise dependent AP revenues and growing 219.5% year over year. This transition reflects the convergence of a maturing Wi-Fi 7 product ecosystem, enterprise demand for higher-throughput infrastructure, along with the pull-forward effect of AI-driven network requirements and AI-powered wireless management.
- Wi-Fi 6/6E trajectory: As Wi-Fi 7 adoption continues, earlier-generation standards are declining in share. Wi-Fi 6 accounted for 29.4% of enterprise dependent AP revenues in 2Q26 (down from 34.8% in 1Q26), while Wi-Fi 6E held 16.9%. Both previous-generation standards remain relevant in phased enterprise rollouts and mid-market deployments. In new projects, though, Wi-Fi 6/6E investment has largely given way to Wi-Fi 7.
- Regional performance: Growth was broad-based across all three regions in 2Q26. EMEA led with 32.2% YoY growth, reaching $1.0B supported by enterprise refresh investment and expanding Wi-Fi 7 adoption across Western and Central Europe. The Americas grew 21.6% YoY to $1.5B, maintaining its position as the largest regional market. APJ expanded 15.2% YoY to $708.1 million.
Vendor highlights
The 2Q26 vendor field reflects a market in active expansion, with the top five vendors posting revenue growth.
Cisco: Cisco posted $1.3B in enterprise WLAN revenues in 2Q26, growing 27.2% YoY and maintaining its position as the market share leader with a 39.0% share. Cisco’s growth reflects enterprise demand across its Wi-Fi 7 portfolio and continued momentum in large campus and branch deployments. Cisco’s scale and long-standing enterprise relationships keep it entrenched in complex, multi-site deployments, backed by a go-to-market channel that’s hard for smaller vendors to match.
HPE/Juniper: The combined HPE and Juniper entity posted $557.2 million in enterprise WLAN revenues in 2Q26, growing 7.5% YoY with a 17.2% market share. While the growth rate is more moderate than its peers this quarter, HPE’s Aruba and Juniper Mist AI-driven platforms remain the pick for enterprises that prioritize AIOps and cloud-managed deployments, particularly those consolidating wired and wireless management under one roof.
Ubiquiti: Ubiquiti posted $415.9 million in 2Q26 revenues, growing 33.1% YoY with a 12.8% market share. Its continued above-market growth reflects traction in the mid-market and among managed service providers, where the company’s competitive pricing and rapid Wi-Fi 7 product refresh are leading to consistent revenue momentum.
Huawei: Huawei posted $339.7 million in 2Q26 revenues, growing 44.0% YoY and reaching a 10.5% market share, up from 6.0% in 1Q26. Growth was driven by its Wi-Fi 7 campus portfolio and integrated campus networking solutions, with standout performance in markets across Asia Pacific and EMEA where Huawei holds established enterprise customer relationships.
Vistance Networks: Vistance Networks (formerly CommScope/Ruckus) posted $107.2 million in 2Q26, growing 9.9% YoY with a 3.3% market share. The Ruckus portfolio continues to hold its position in high-density verticals including hospitality, education, and large venues, where its enterprise-grade quality and deployment flexibility remain competitive differentiators. In April 2026, Belden announced its intent to acquire Ruckus Networks from Vistance Networks, a $1.85B deal that closed in July 2026.
WLAN Top Companies Chart
Market dynamics
Wi-Fi 7 as the new enterprise baseline
The 2Q26 results confirm that Wi-Fi 7 is no longer a premium upgrade choice, rather it has become the default selection for enterprise wireless procurement. The speed and breadth of this transition is driven by a combination of factors: a broad hardware refresh cycle that has created natural replacement demand across installed Wi-Fi 5 and early Wi-Fi 6 deployments; a matured vendor product portfolio that has brought Wi-Fi 7 to competitive price points across all market tiers; and the pull-forward effect of enterprise AI adoption, which is raising throughput and latency requirements across office environments, campuses, and branch sites.
Related: Watch IDC’s take on what’s driving the shift in The Rise of Wi-Fi 7 in Enterprises.
Memory Constraints Strain WLAN Economics
Persistent supply chain headwinds caused by industry-wide memory shortages continue to extend lead times and increase average selling prices (ASPs) across the enterprise WLAN market, forcing enterprise buyers into difficult trade-offs. Organizations are choosing between accelerating purchases to secure inventory or deferring deployments to manage costs, reshaping buying patterns as cost-conscious enterprises prioritize strategic deployments while others absorb premium pricing.
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Strong 2Q26 results in the enterprise WLAN market underscore a market in full transition. The campus refresh cycle is accelerating across regions, driven by the convergence of Wi-Fi 7, multi-gigabit switching, and AI adoption. Organizations are modernizing networks to support AI workloads while simultaneously leveraging AI and agentic capabilities to streamline engineering and operations. Despite supply chain headwinds, IDC expects momentum in the enterprise wireless industry to continue as organizations across the globe prioritize network modernization in the AI era.
Why it matters
- Who should care? CIOs, network architects, and IT procurement teams making refresh decisions in the next 12-18 months should treat Wi-Fi 7 as the standard starting point, not an optional upgrade. The market has moved: vendors are shifting development and supply chain focus to Wi-Fi 7, and the price premium over Wi-Fi 6 is narrowing rapidly. Deferring Wi-Fi 7 now means retrofitting networks to meet AI application requirements sooner than expected.
- Business impact: The acceleration in enterprise WLAN growth, 23.2% YoY, up from 15.6% in the prior quarter, reflects real enterprise budget commitment to wireless modernization. Organizations that have invested in Wi-Fi 7 infrastructure are building the connectivity foundation for AI-powered collaboration, real-time location services, and high-density mobile workloads. The TCO calculus increasingly favors Wi-Fi 7 over incremental Wi-Fi 6E upgrades.
What’s next for the WLAN market
IDC expects the enterprise WLAN market to sustain growth through the second half of 2026, with Wi-Fi 7 continuing to consolidate its dominant position, despite supply chain headwinds. As the enterprise installed base of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E access points continues to mature, the addressable refresh opportunity remains substantial. Demand from AI-intensive applications (spanning inference at the edge, high-density video, and IoT integration) will continue to pull forward network investment decisions. Integrated, secure networking is another key driver in the refresh opportunity.
The competitive dynamics established in 2Q26 are likely to persist. Cisco’s scale advantage in large enterprises is durable, but Huawei’s trajectory and Ubiquiti’s mid-market momentum mean that market share will remain actively contested. Macro risks, including regional economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions, are real watch items for the back half of the year. None of them have shown up yet in the refresh demand IDC is tracking.
For deeper analysis and IDC research on enterprise wireless LAN trends, visit the IDC Quarterly Wireless LAN Tracker, or contact IDC for the latest market insights and custom research.