Qualcomm held its annual Analyst Day in New York on November 19th, where it met with “investment professionals” in an exclusive get together. At the event, Qualcomm reportedly made predictions about 5G smartphone sales in the coming years.
According to Android Central, Qualcomm expects 450 million 5G smartphones to ship in 2021. The following year, it anticipates another 750 million 5G phones will ship.
Previously, the company predicted 200 million 5G phones would ship in 2020. In other words, the new prediction suggests we could see a 125 percent growth in shipments between 2020 and 2021.
However, for that to happen, a lot will have to change. For one, 5G networks will need to be more widely available. Currently in the U.S., 5G is still limited to a select number of cities and coverage can be spotty. In Canada, 5G barely exists at all, and likely won’t at least until 2021 as the government and telecom operators prepare for spectrum auctions.
Further, there will need to be far more devices with 5G capabilities for Qualcomm’s predictions to come true. In 2019, the choices are limited: the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, Note 10+ 5G, OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, and the LG V50 5G are basically it in the U.S. market. None of those devices came to Canada.
Over the next year, that will likely change. Qualcomm has made 5G central to its Snapdragon platform and is making it more accessible at the mid-range level. Further, Android Central suggests flagship devices won’t need to make 4G LTE and 5G variants in 202o and can instead make one version that supports both network types.
Despite those predictions, it will likely be some time before 5G becomes as ubiquitous as 4G and LTE. That said, 5G appears to be off to an explosive start.
Source: Android Central
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