News: Markets
24 February 2020
Global 5G smartphone shipments to grow tenfold to 199 million in 2020
Global 5G smartphone shipments will grow more than tenfold from 19 million units in 2019 to 199 million in 2020, according to the report ‘Global Handset Sales for 88 Countries & 19 Technologies’ from the Strategy Analytics Emerging Device Technologies (EDT) service.
“The 5G segment will be the fastest-growing part of the worldwide smartphone industry this year,” says Ken Hyers, director at market research firm Strategy Analytics. “Consumers want faster 5G smartphones to surf richer content, such as video or games,” he adds. The report forecasts that 5G penetration will rise from 1% of all smartphones shipped globally in 2019 to 15% of total in 2020, as non-5G smartphone shipments fall from 1394 million to 1165 million units, meaning that total smartphone shipments will fall from 1413 million units in 2019 to 1364 million in 2020.
“China, United States, South Korea, Japan and Germany are by far the largest 5G smartphone markets this year,” notes associate director Ville-Petteri Ukonaho. “The big-five countries together will make up 9 in 10 of all 5G smartphones sold worldwide in 2020. However, other important regions, like India and Indonesia, are lagging way behind and will not be offering mass-market 5G for at least another year or two,” he adds.
“The global 5G smartphone industry is growing quickly, but the ongoing coronavirus scare and subsequent economic slowdown will put a cap on overall 5G demand this year,” cautions executive director Neil Mawston. “The COVID-19 outbreak is currently restricting smartphone production in Asia, disrupting supply chains, and deterring consumers from visiting retail stores to buy new 5G devices in some parts of China. The first half of 2020 will be much weaker than expected for the 5G industry, but we expect a strong bounce-back in the second half of the year if the coronavirus spread is brought under control.”
