Demand for 5G phones grew substantially in Q1 2020 with Samsung at the forefront

It’s not all doom and gloom in the smartphone industry, after all. One segment actually seems to be growing, despite the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus.
 
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, more than 24 million 5G-enabled smartphones were sold in the first quarter of 2020.
 
Comparatively, 18.7 million 5G-ready phones were sold in all of 2019. This means just Q1 2020 sales have eclipsed the total 2019 shipments and this is a promising sign.
 
Samsung sold the most number of 5G-ready phones during the quarter, with global shipments totaling 8.3 million units. The Galaxy S20 5G and S20 Ultra 5G emerged as the most popular models.
 
That’s interesting, given the fact that as a whole, the Galaxy S20 series is not said to be doing that well. Moreover, Samsung is also reportedly scaling back on production and cutting down on components orders as it apparently expects demand to slide in the coming months.
 
Thus, this is positive news for the company. However, we don’t know how long it will be able to dominate the 5G-category, given that Apple is expected to launch its first-ever 5G iPhones later this year.
 

Samsung was closely trailed by Huawei

 
Strategy Analytics adds that Samsung was followed by Huawei, with 8 million global shipments. Most of the sales came from its home market of China, where it has increased focus after being put on the entity list by the US. Mate 30, Honor V30 Pro, and Mate 30 Pro were the company’s top-selling 5G models during the first quarter of the year.
 
Other top vendors during the quarter were Vivo, Xiaomi, and OPPO. Strategy Analytics also notes that demand in China was higher than expected. This also explains the popularity of the Chinese brands, which captured a huge chunk of the demand.
 
Demand is also growing in the US, Europe, and South Korea, according to the firm. However, since Q2 is going to be more reflective of the effects of the Q2 2020, it remains to be seen if the same growth trajectory will continue.