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  "path": "/article/4135351/favorable-wi-fi-7-prices-wont-be-around-for-long-delloro-group-warns.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-23T10:30:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.networkworld.com",
  "tags": [
    "LAN, Networking, Wi-Fi",
    "Wi-Fi 7 upgrade",
    "Siân Morgan",
    "Wireless LAN 5-Year Forecast Report",
    "driving price hikes",
    "Wi-Fi 7 holds plenty of reasons",
    "cost of operating and maintaining networks"
  ],
  "textContent": "If you’re considering a Wi-Fi 7 upgrade, now’s the time because prices are unusually low, according to the latest research from Dell’Oro Group.\n\nA number of factors contributed to establish initial Wi-Fi 7 pricing far lower than normal for a new technology, says Siân Morgan, research director at Dell’Oro Group and lead author of the company’s latest quarterly Wireless LAN 5-Year Forecast Report.\n\nWhen they debuted, the worldwide average selling price (ASP) for Wi-Fi 7 indoor access points was lower than that for Wi-Fi 6 or 6E, Morgan says. “And it has stayed lower over the 10 quarters since it was introduced to the market.” (See graphic, below.)\n\nsrcset=\"https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DellOro-wifi-pricing.png?quality=50&strip=all 977w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DellOro-wifi-pricing.png?resize=300%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DellOro-wifi-pricing.png?resize=768%2C430&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DellOro-wifi-pricing.png?resize=150%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 150w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DellOro-wifi-pricing.png?resize=854%2C478&quality=50&strip=all 854w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DellOro-wifi-pricing.png?resize=640%2C358&quality=50&strip=all 640w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DellOro-wifi-pricing.png?resize=444%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 444w\" width=\"977\" height=\"547\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 977px) 100vw, 977px\">\n\nDell’Oro Group\n\nOne factor in that phenomenon is regional influences. Wi-Fi 7 went to market outside of the U.S. in a way that served to pull prices down globally. Chinese vendors, including Huawei and H3C, were shipping Wi-Fi 7 access points up to a year ahead of their North American competitors, she says.\n\n“They were able to capture some of the market, like in CALA [Caribbean and Latin America] and Europe,” Morgan says. “And they pulled the price down low.”\n\nBy the time North American vendors caught up with shipments, they essentially had no choice but to price aggressively as well – even stalwarts like Cisco. “Cisco had a deliberate strategy of introducing Wi-Fi 7 at similar prices to the older 6 or 6E technology, with very little premium for the new technology, and that has really helped to keep the price low,” she says.\n\nAnother contributing factor is that some Wi-Fi 7 access points have only two radios, whereas Wi-Fi 6 APs generally have three to support 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands, Morgan says.\n\nFinally, some vendors offer a wider range of Wi-Fi 7 equipment models than in previous generations. The lower-end models in their portfolios help reduce the average price of all Wi-Fi 7 products, Morgan’s research shows. So, whether you pay a premium for Wi-Fi 7 vs. Wi-Fi 6 or 6E may depend on which models you need.\n\n## Act now, these deals won’t last\n\nWhatever your particular case, if you are in the market for a Wi-Fi 7 upgrade, don’t dally. “In the overall wireless LAN market, not just Wi-Fi 7, we’re going to start to see prices rise,” Morgan says. Price hikes will be largely due to the uncertain availability of memory chips required for WLAN hardware – an issue that’s driving price hikes across all sorts of equipment.\n\n“Vendors have already started to raise list prices, even though it’s been in the few percentage points so far,” she said. “We expect further price hikes over the next year.”\n\nLead times are also volatile. Channel partners are telling Dell’Oro that lead times can vary day-to-day, measured in months one day and weeks the next. “There doesn’t seem to be a consistent trend across specific products or specific vendors. It seems volatile across the whole market,” Morgan says.\n\nAs a result, partners are tightening the windows on how long quotes are valid, because they don’t know how or whether their own pricing will change. While there’s no hard-and-fast rule of thumb, and timing may depend on existing contracts, Morgan says the typical window is probably a matter of weeks.\n\n## Plenty of rationale to upgrade\n\nIn addition to potential deals, Wi-Fi 7 holds plenty of reasons to justify an upgrade, headlined by multi-link operation (MLO). MLO enables devices to use multiple frequency bands simultaneously, to avoid congestion on a single band and increase reliability.\n\nOne of those bands may be the 6 GHz band, introduced with Wi-Fi 6E. But with 6E, devices must choose a single band rather than use multiple bands simultaneously.\n\nThe additional band could be a “game changer” for enterprises. The original 2.4 GHz band is typically crowded and subject to interference, as is the 5 GHz band in many cases. “To be able to have devices access this new band that isn’t being used by wireless LAN at all today, or very little, really is going to improve the quality of the connection,” Morgan says\n\nMorgan expects AI operations (AIOps) features will likewise be attractive to enterprises because they help reduce the cost of operating and maintaining networks.\n\n“Many vendors are offering AI-fueled features to help automate operations,” she says. “I expect 2026 is going to be the year enterprises can really prove in that return on investment on AIOps features.”",
  "title": "Favorable Wi-Fi 7 prices won’t be around for long, Dell’Oro Group warns"
}