IoT Wireless Market Recovers as Bluetooth Shipments Head Toward 8.1 Billion Units by 2030, Wi-Fi 8 Emerges

The global IoT connectivity market has bounced back strongly after several rough years, according to research firm ABI Research, following supply chain disruptions, inventory gluts, and weak demand that hit the wireless industry between 2022 and 2024. The firm says 2025 ended on solid footing for major vendors, though it's flagging a new concern on the horizon: potential RAM shortages that could complicate planning and pricing for mainstream consumer devices starting in the second half of 2026.

Andrew Zignani, senior research director at ABI Research, framed the broader shift underway in the industry as one where wireless connectivity is moving beyond simply linking devices together and increasingly becoming the foundation for edge AI, meaning AI processing that happens on the device itself rather than in the cloud, across consumer, enterprise, and industrial markets. He said the vendors best positioned going forward will be the ones that can combine low-latency connectivity, ultra-low power design, and on-device intelligence into integrated, purpose-built platforms rather than treating radios as standalone components.

On the numbers, ABI Research's growth forecasts are substantial across the board. Bluetooth device shipments are projected to climb from 5.4 billion units in 2025 to 8.1 billion by 2030, a jump the firm attributes largely to rapid growth in high-...