Strategy Analytics predicts global legitimate mobile phone sales to decline -9% annually in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global recessions. 5G Phone Sales

However, global 5G handset sales will grow +1,300% in 2020, driven mainly by the Chinese market. LTE (4G) sales will decline this year as a result of growing interest towards 5G devices. 2G, 3G and 4G will still have strong sales in Africa.

Strategy Analitycs extensive report forecasts handset sales for 6 regions and 88 countries worldwide, from 2002 to 2024. The datamodel provides forecasts for 19 separate technologies, including GSM, EDGE, CDMA, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, HSPA+, HSUPA, LTE, LTE-A and 5G.

The latest Apple iPhone 12 hitting stores this month is a major catalyst that will spike 5G demand in the coming months.

Shipments of 5G smartphones will surge this year in the face of a downturn in overall smartphone sales, according to a report from research firm Canalys too. For 2020, 5G phone shipments are expected to grow by 1,582% from 2019.

The growth in 5G phone shipments for 2020 will come amid a sour picture for smartphone sales in general, which Canalys predicts will drop by 10.7% for the year.

Other factors are starting to boost 5G phone sales and help the smartphone industry recover, including the gradual reopening of brick-and-mortar stores and an improvement in logistics and production. As such, shipments have stabilized over the second half of 2020, and Stanton sees 5G grabbing the spotlight for this year’s holiday season. 5G Phone Sales