Samsung isn't going to win the 5G race this year and the company is bound to rank third after Huawei and Apple in terms of global 5G smartphone sales, according to recent reports from market researchers. But although Strategy Analytics estimates that Samsung will sell around 41.5 million 5G smartphones in 2020, market research firm TrendForce has much lower expectations from the Korean tech giant.
According to the new TrendForce report issued via Yonhap, Samsung will sell around 29 million 5G smartphones by the end of 2020. The research firm estimates Huawei to be leading the 5G smartphone market at the end of 2020 with roughly 74 million 5G units sold, and expects Apple to follow closely with 70 million 5G units. Samsung will therefore take the third spot on the podium and it will reportedly be followed by Vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi with estimated sales figures of 21 million, 20 million, and 19 million 5G units, respectively.
Samsung had a strong start in the 5G race in the first quarter of the year. It ranked first in terms of global 5G smartphone shipments but even back then it looked as if the company was losing ground to Huawei due to its lack of influence in China. Now Apple is bound to join the 5G race in the second half of 2020 and it may end up outperforming Samsung despite the fact that the latter company offers a multitude of 5G-enabled smartphones across different price points. The Galaxy Note 20 series and the Galaxy Z Fold 2 are bound to have 5G connectivity, and Samsung will release a 5G variant of the Galaxy Z Flip too.
Keep in mind that each market research firm has its own methodology, which explains why the estimates by TrendForce and Strategy Analytics don't match. With that in mind, most industry watchers expect Samsung to rank third, but only time will tell exactly how many 5G smartphones the company will be able to sell by the end of the year.
