- March 06, 2020
“Year of 5G” arrives with an unexpected outbreak of COVID-19. GSMA cancelled MWC2020 in February
and there is mounting concerns about disruptions to the smartphone supply chain. However, a slew of new 5G chips
introduced by chipmakers ready to power the 5G devices and the manufactures’ determination of pushing 5G products
this year could alleviate the impact of coronavirus epidemic, in our view. 5G devices ramp is expected to come in the
second half of this year. According to Strategy Analytics, global 5G smartphone shipments reached 18.7mn units in
2019. Huawei topped the list with a total shipment of 6.9mn units, followed by Samsung with 6.7mn units, Vivo 2.0mn
units, Xiaomi 1.2mn units, and LG 0.9mn units. Looking ahead to 2020, Strategy Analytics forecasted 5G smartphone
shipments will reach 199mn globally with 5G penetration rising from 1% in 2019 to 15% of the total in 2020. Separately,
major 5G chipmakers, MediaTek and Qualcomm disclosed their forecasts for 5G shipments of 2020 on the latest
earnings calls, in the range of 170mn-200mn units and 175mn-225mn units, respectively.
