5G smartphones to make up 15% of market in 2020: Report

A research report by Strategy Analytics has claimed that the number of 5G smartphones is expected to grow more than tenfold to reach 199 million shipments worldwide which translates to an estimated 15 per cent of all smartphone shipments, up from just 1 per cent in 2019.

The report also estimates that China, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Germany will account for 90 per cent of all 5G smartphone sales.

The first half of 2020 will see slower than expected shipments for smartphones due to the deadly Coronavirus epidemic, while the second half of the year will see a bounce-back in demand.

Additionally, India and Indonesia are the two important markets lagging behind in 5G adoption rates as they are not expected to have mass-market 5G networks for at least another year.

Recently, US based investment banking and financial service company Goldman Sachs is forecasting a hefty 200 million 5G smartphone shipments globally in the coming year.

The new predicted value is about 20 times more than the sales figure of 2019.

According to estimates, there will be about 1 million new 5G base stations in China this year. This is higher than the original 600,000 prediction by Goldman Sachs.

Additionally, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun announced the company is planning to pump $7 billion in 5G, AI and IoT over the next five years.