The share of 5G smartphones is growing rapidly and expected to reach 59.5% in China this year, research analysts Gartner predicted
5G is now a standard feature in premium smartphones, especially in China, the United States, Japan and South Korea, Gupta said, adding that driven by lower-cost models, adoption is particularly aggressive in China.
Shipments of 5G phones reached an all-time monthly high of 27.278 million units in China last month, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) shows.
The figure accounted for 68% of the country's total mobile phone shipments in January, reported CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. CAICT said that China will build more than 600,000 5G base stations in 202.
Gartner forecasts sales of smartphones will total 1.5 billion units worldwide in 2021, with 539 million units or 35 percent of them 5G smartphones.
China's smartphone sales is expected to total 409.97 million units in 2021, compared with 368.02 million units in 2020.
The growing availability of 5G networks coupled with a higher variety of 5G smartphones starting at US$200 will steer demand in mature markets and China, said Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner.
