Global mobile phone sales growth will top 9% in 2021, driven by 5G smartphone sales, which will be up more than 143% annually in for the year.

5G is poised to become the main handset technology worldwide by 2023.  In that year 5 G smartphones will account for over 50% of handset sales, achieving this in just 4 years, the quickest that any G has achieved this milestone. In comparison, it took 4G handsets five years to reach a similar level.

4G isn’t dead, even though LTE (4G) handset sales will decline -26% in 2021 because of growing interest in 5G devices. LTE still has 40% share of the global handset market in 2021 and the technology will continue to play an important role in cellular networks around the world for years to come.

Strategy Analytics predicts legitimate mobile phone sales to grow +9% worldwide in 2021. Global 5G handset sales will grow +143% in 2021. Newest generation will become largest technology in 2023. LTE (4G) sales declined -26% as a result of growing interest in 5G devices. LTE still has 40% share of handset market in 2021. 2G/2.

5G expansion has continued at a blistering pace in Asia, where South Korea and China have led the region in speeds and breadth of deployment, while some countries in the Middle East have posted impressively fast download rates in smaller geographic areas. European capitals have continued to advance their 5G deployments, delayed somewhat by the need to limit or tear out equipment provided by Chinese network vendor Huawei.

5 G continues to be strong in Africa region too.