5G smartphones are going mainstream and this year, all the major smartphone makers are expected to have a couple of 5G phones in their portfolios. While there are already several 5G devices in the market, almost every one of them is in the premium segment.

Smartphone makers are currently working on bringing down the cost of 5G phones and thanks to the new chipsets from Qualcomm and MediaTek, some of the manufacturers have managed to launch mid-range 5G smartphones.

However, Chinese giant Huawei’s President for 5G product line, Yang Chaobin believes that 5G smartphones priced around $150 are expected to get launched by the end of 2020 or in early 2021.

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Huawei, along with its sub-brand Honor, has launched a number of 5G smartphones in 2019, including Mate 30 5G series, Mate 20 X 5G, Mate X 5G, Nova 6 5G, Honor V30 series, among others. The company recently announced that its total worldwide 5G smartphone shipments have exceeded the mark of 6.9 million units.

According to a research agency in China, an estimated five million 5G capable smartphones were sold in December 2019 alone and the figures are expected to rise further. It is expected that more than 20 percent of the smartphones under the 2000 Yuan (roughly $290) will be 5G-enabled this year. By 2021, the same statistics are expected to be applicable across the globe.

While several companies have launched 5G smartphones in the market, most of them are exclusive to the Chinese market only, which includes the likes of Xiaomi, Vivo, and Huawei. This is also because China has already started offering commercial 5G services, the only country to do so apart from South Korea and United States.

As per the report, local OEMs in China are expected to sell over 150 million 5G smartphone units in 2020 while the global smartphone market sees a marginal market rise of 0.7 percent overall.

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(Via)

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