Electronics

According to a report from Light Reading, in the global smartphone market, the number of low-end 5G smartphones is increasing rapidly.

According to the latest data from market research company Omdia, the market share of 5G smartphones will reach 43% of the overall market in 2021, more than twice the 19% market share (Omdia data) last year. However, Omdia predicts that the vast majority of 5G smartphones (81%) will be restricted to the sub-6GHz frequency band.

As the commercial applications of millimeter wave spectrum may increase next year, especially in China and "major Asian countries," Omdia estimates that the share of millimeter wave-enabled 5G smartphones (the proportion of all 5G smartphones) will increase from 19 this year. % Will rise to 32% by 2022.

In a speech at MWC Shanghai at the beginning of this year, Peter Jarich, the head of the GSMA think tank, said that the past efforts to commercialize millimeter waves have failed because there is no urgent need for data-carrying capacity. "When we see capacity demand, we realize that new spectrum is needed," he said.

Recently, a sign of the industry’s momentum comes from Qualcomm, which said that about 43 operators and equipment manufacturers have pledged to cooperate with them to deploy 5G on the millimeter wave spectrum.

Omdia's 5G smartphone forecasts are part of its latest "Smartphone Feature Forecast Database" report. Data shows that low-end smartphones priced at US$91-150 account for the largest share of the global smartphone market. However, due to increased demand for smartphones and improved hardware functions, smartphone prices continue to rise.

As the demand for high-end smartphones has also grown steadily recently, Omdia believes that shipments of high-end smartphones (priced at more than US$751) are expected to exceed 200 million units for the first time this year.