The modern smartphone is a wireless marvel. Not just because of its cellular capabilities, but also because of the way that a range of wireless connectivity solutions are integrated into the devices to allow for pinpoint positioning accuracy, easy secure payment options, charging, and casting media from phones to other devices. The host of wireless solutions enable the smartphone to be a true hub for consumers, and to replace many other solutions used to perform everyday tasks.

With so many different wireless solutions being enabled on smartphones with each new generation, choosing which solution to enable is an important one for smartphone vendors. Supporting the wrong solution risks limiting consumers ability to make full use of their phones and could lead vendors to support a technological dead-end.

Wireless technology solutions that have fallen by the wayside in recent years include DLNA, Miracast, and PMA for wireless charging. 

DLNA is a dead smartphone technology, though just six years ago it was found in 1 in 3 smartphones sold globally.


Another important technology, FM radio, is used by hundreds of millions of people around the globe, yet is disappearing from some premium smartphones, such as iPhones.

Adding in additional wireless technologies to smartphones involves trade-offs.  Beyond the risk of supporting a technological dead-end, vendors need to weigh the impact of new technologies in terms of power-management, additional components such as chips and antennas, and impact on device size and configuration. Careful research, including of user demand for these technologies, is necessary to weigh which technologies to add to future roadmaps by smartphone vendors.

Clients of Strategy Analytics Device Technologies service can access the report Global Smartphone Sales Forecasts by Wireless Connectivity Technologies here.