Dell’Oro Group reports China WLAN slump kept global growth below double-digits

According to Dell’Oro Group, a sharp decline in China Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) spending kept global WLAN growth below double-digits in 3Q 2025, while Cisco's pricing moved it into the Wi‑Fi 7 revenue lead, affecting vendor selection and deployment timing for enterprise IT.

Market Overview

Dell’Oro Group reported China WLAN revenue contracted by double-digits in 3Q 2025, preventing global WLAN growth from reaching double-digits. All macro regions except China resumed growth, and the market expansion was led by the Middle East and Africa.

Key Findings

“Cisco was late to the Wi-Fi 7 party,” said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “But their aggressive pricing strategy has launched them into first place in terms of Wi-Fi 7 revenue, and this latest technology has ramped faster for Cisco than any prior version of Wi-Fi.”

“We saw strong WLAN spending in all regions outside China, where revenue contracted by double-digits,” said Morgan.

Segment or Supplier Performance

HPE's reported WLAN revenue now includes Juniper Mist WLAN sales following the July acquisition and the company has begun product convergence announcements. Ubiquiti led in 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) shipment volumes, and public cloud-managed WLAN grew at twice the rate of the overall market due to higher average selling prices.

Technology or Trend Analysis

The report shows Wi‑Fi 7 adoption produced faster revenue ramp for Cisco than prior Wi‑Fi versions, and higher ASPs for cloud-managed WLAN contributed to above-market growth for that segment.

Forecast or Analyst Outlook

The report indicates that, aside from China, macro regions have resumed a growth trajectory following 2024 declines, with the Middle East and Africa leading expansion in 3Q 2025.

This Analyst Signals brief reflects a neutral, fact-based summary of the original research note.