Wireless communications have transformed nearly every application space, from smart home security and personal computing to mobile phones, audio, and video streaming, and factory-floor automation. Benefiting from decades of rapid innovation, almost every electronic product on the market today is a connected device.
The technologies at the forefront of the field are 5G and emerging Wi-Fi networks such as Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7. Since cellular and Wi-Fi historically serve different use cases-many industry watchers view these technologies as competitors.
While users preferred cellular for on-the-go, long-range communications with guaranteed latency and quality requirements, they saw Wi-Fi as a short-range LAN technology offering better data rates, suitable for households or sizeable premises with an option to tailor the network for a certain user density and application. These roles have typically made sense, but now, as 5G and Wi-Fi 6E/7 have both emerged as feature-rich technologies that promise to deliver a seamless user experience, this narrative is changing. As a matter of fact, 5G and Wi-Fi 6E/7 have developed a healthy interdependency.
