5G Smartphones to Capture 26% Market Share in 2023 from 0.5% in 2019

There was a time where the smartphone market was booming like never before. Most of the growth is driven by developing nations like China and India. However, the market has become stagnant in the last couple of years. There was a decline in the smartphone shipments and it seems to be the way going forward, at least for the next couple of years. According to the latest report from IDC, the smartphone shipments this year will reach 1.39 billion, which is 0.8% lesser than the last year’s shipments.Ω

While the 4G smartphones will occupy a 95.4% market share this year, the 3G smartphones will be limited to just 4.1% share. The 5G smartphones which became a buzz word at this year’s MWC will see a market share of just 0.5%. However, we might see a 1.7% YoY growth in smartphone shipments in 2023. The 5G smartphones will be able to capture a 26% market share globally by 2023.

The 4G smartphones will still occupy a majority of the market share even by 2023, but the overall growth will be fallen by 4.4%. The decline of 4G smartphones is because of the overall growth in the shipments of 5G smartphones. A total of 1.541 billion smartphones could be shipped globally in the whole of 2023. While brands like Apple and Samsung are losing market share, the Chinese brands will continue to grow in the coming years. Unlike Apple, Samsung has the advantage of gaining back the market share by launching affordable smartphones.

Recently, Samsung revamped its strategy for the budget smartphones by launching Galaxy M and Galaxy A series smartphones. We have also seen a few foldable smartphone unveilings at the MWC. Since these futuristic devices are yet to reach the hands of customers, we are not sure how people will react. Also, the super premium price tag might not make them any worthy in comparison with the other flagship devices.

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