Leases - Additional Information (Detail) $ in Thousands		6 Months Ended
	Apr. 30, 2021 USD ($) ft²	Jun. 30, 2021 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2020 USD ($)
Leases [Line Items]
Lease description		On March 5, 2020, PCTEL (Tianjin) Wireless Telecommunications Products, Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (“PCTEL Tianjin”), entered into a letter agreement with Wang Zhuang Village Committee of Tianjin, China (the “Letter Agreement”) specifying the terms for extension of the lease of the premises on which PCTEL Tianjin currently conducts its manufacturing activities in Tianjin, China (the “Tianjin Lease”) to October 2022. The Letter Agreement did not, however, effect the lease extension. The Tianjin Lease expired on October 8, 2020 without extension.  On October 16, 2020, the Wang Zhuang Village Committee issued a notice informing PCTEL Tianjin that the Chinese Party Central Committee and the State Council are accelerating the layout optimization and transformation of the industrial park in which the leased premises is located, and accordingly leases and lease extensions for all premises in the industrial park have been suspended and rent collection has been postponed. The letter indicates that if the Tianjin Lease extension is subsequently approved, the rent for the period from October 9, 2020 to the date of the Tianjin Lease extension (the “Intervening Period”) will then be due and payable.  In July 2021, PCTEL Tianjin received an indication from local Chinese authorities that the Tianjin lease extension is likely to be approved for a period of October 10, 2020 to December 31, 2021 and lease negotiations have commenced. However, based upon past practices and verbal assurances, the Company believes that PCTEL Tianjin will have not less than 30 days to vacate the leased premises if the Lease Extension is not approved
Right of Use Asset		$ 2,381	$ 2,272
Operating lease liability		$ 4,260
Smarteq Wireless Aktiebolag [Member]
Leases [Line Items]
Right of Use Asset	$ 200
Operating lease liability	$ 200
Smarteq Wireless Aktiebolag [Member] | Engineering Sales And Administration
Leases [Line Items]
Area of lease | ft²	4,080
Lease expiration date	Jul. 31, 2023