India to hold 6.1% of global 5G smartphone market share this year

• Global 5G shipment volume will grow to 570m units, up 123.4% from last year.
• By the end of 2022, 5G units are expected to make up more than half of all smartphone shipments with a 54.1% share.
• 5G shipments continue to be a primary driver of 2021 growth as both vendors and channels focus on 5G devices that carry a significantly higher average selling price than older 4G devices.
• Smartphone shipments are expected to grow 7.4% in 202 to reach 1.37b units, followed by 3.4% growth in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
• This year’s growth can be attributed to a healthy 13.8% growth from iOS devices combined with 6.2% growth from Android.

China will continue to lead the market with 47.1 per cent of the 5G global market share this year, followed by the US at 16 per cent, India at 6.1 per cent and Japan at 4.1 per cent.

According to research firm International Data Corporation, 5G shipments continue to be a primary driver of 2021 growth as both vendors and channels focus on 5G devices that carry a significantly higher average selling price (ASP) than older 4G devices.

The ASP of a 5G smartphone will reach $634 in 2021, which is flat from $632 in 2020.

However, 4G devices continue to witness a massive price decline as the ASP drops to $206, representing a nearly 30 per cent decline from last year ($277).

As a result, the total 5G shipment volume will grow to 570 million units, up 123.4 per cent from last year. By the end of 2022, 5G units are expected to make up more than half of all smartphone shipments with a 54.1 per cent share.

Premium phones fuel growth

“Despite the ongoing issues surrounding the pandemic and the Delta variant, consumers are continuing to upgrade to more premium smartphones this year,” Anthony Scarsella, research director at IDC, said.

Moreover, he said that premium smartphones (priced at more than $1000) continued to grow in the second quarter as the segment displayed 116 per cent growth from last year.

“ASPs across the entire market climbed 9 per cent as buyer preferences trend towards more costly 5G models than entry-level devices, he said.

Smartphone shipments are expected to grow 7.4 per cent in 2021, reaching 1.37 billion units, followed by 3.4 per cent growth in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The 7.4 per cent growth can be attributed to a healthy 13.8 per cent growth from iOS devices combined with 6.2 per cent growth from Android.

Markets fuelling the recovery

Although Covid-19 drastically impacted 2020 shipments, 2021 shipments have managed to display minimal growth compared to 2019 (pre-pandemic) volumes, giving us a more accurate view of the state of the market.

The world’s largest markets – China, the United States, and Western Europe – will still be down from 2019, but growing markets such as India, Japan, the Middle East, and Africa are fueling the recovery.

Ryan Reith,  Group Vice-President with IDC, said that the smartphone market was better prepared from a supply chain perspective heading into 2020 given almost all regions were expecting to grow and vendors were preparing accordingly.

“2020 was a bust due to the pandemic but all of the top brands continued forward with their production plans with the main difference that the timeline was pushed out. Therefore, we are at a point where inventory levels are much healthier than PCs and some other adjacent markets and we are seeing the resilience of consumer demand in recent quarterly results,” he said.