Competition Likely to Heat up This Year
Samsung Electronics led the 5G smartphone market last year, accounting for 43 percent of global sales.
5G smartphones accounted for 1 percent of global smartphone sell-through sales in 2019, according to the latest Market Pulse report from global market researcher Counterpoint. Samsung Electronics ranked first with 43 percent, followed by Huawei with 34 percent.
“Samsung released the broadest portfolio of 5G products from mid-priced to premium models and including sub-6GHz and mmWave models,” a Counterpoint researcher noted. “Samsung also released its products in wider regions, including the Middle East and Africa, than other companies.”
This year will be important for Samsung as cheaper products will be released by Chinese producers and Apple is expected to launch 5G iPhones in the second half, the researcher said.
In particular, Huawei in China is rising fast. Most of second-ranked Huawei's products were sold in the Chinese market. Among Huawei products, the only product sold outside of China was the Mate 20X. As users prefer 5G smartphones for future use rather than 4G ones, the 5G version of the Huawei Mate 30 series enjoyed strong sales across China. The 5G smartphone competition is expected to heat up as other Chinese players will enter the 5G smartphone market. Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and RealMe among others are expected to adopt Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 and 7 series and 5G chipsets from Samsung, MediaTek, UNISOC, and HiSilicon.
In addition, LG Electronics, which launched the V50 series in Korea, the United States, and the EU, ranked third with a 10 percent share. Vivo nabbed fourth place with a five percent market share thanks to its sales volume in China. In particular, last year, it launched a 5G smartphones priced for less than US$500, the lowest-priced 5G model.
Xiaomi ranked fifth with a 3 percent market share is sticking to a competitive pricing strategy. It launched a 5G smartphone priced under US$400. Oppo launched premium 5G smartphones in China, the EU and the Middle East and recorded a two percent share.