Smartphone Chipsets, Apple Inc. (AAPL) Paying Attention To This

If it has anything to do with the smartphone market, you can be rest assured that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is paying close attention. Cupertino is at the top of the market for a reason, and it plans on staying there well into the future. While the competition is growing by the day, Apple continues to stand strong.

ABI Research recently released this study: Smartphones will Account for Nearly Half of Both 802.11ac and 802.11ad Chipset Shipments in 2018

Tim CookThis doesn’t have anything to directly do with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), but as noted above, if the information is smartphone related Cupertino is involved in some way, shape, or form.

Here is what the study had to say:

“The growth of 802.11ac and 802.11ad will occur in very different ways. 802.11ac will explode into devices, including smartphones, from the start while 802.11ad will see a more modest and staggered growth. 802.11ac is being pushed into smartphones by key carriers’ device requirements that are in sync with 802.11ac hotspot plans for more robust Wi-Fi offloading. “The push towards 11ac adoption overpowers the minor additional cost of dual-band 802.11n/802.11ac chipsets that will be used in smartphones,” states research director Philip Solis. “Perhaps surprising even to industry insiders, we will likely see 2X2 802.11ac implementations in smartphones in a few years.”

Image: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

At this point, it is hard for anybody to think about 2018 and what the smartphone market will look like. That being said, ABI has taken a close look at how 802.11ac and 802.11ad chipset shipments will look five years from now. If you are interested in these types of trends, this is something that is sure to open your mind and make you wonder how else smartphones are going to evolve in the years to come.

Philip Solis went on to add, “As the complexity of Wi-Fi increases, heading towards tri-band 802.11n/802.11ac/802.11ad chipsets, interesting design tradeoffs can be made to optimize for cost, size, and functionality. Choices can be made around the support of 80 MHz or 160 MHz channel and MIMO configurations based on whether or not 802.11ad is included. Smaller antennae arrays can also be used to save space.”

The last part of that quote is likely to be most intriguing to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), as the company is always looking for ways to save space. Anytime Cupertino can save space while cutting weight, you can be rest assured that they will take a strong look.

What are your thoughts on this report by ABI? Share your opinion in the comment section below.