Samsung was pretty quick to put 5G smartphones on the market. The company kicked things off with the Galaxy S10 5G. It declared 2020 the year of 5G for its smartphones as the next-gen network support was expanded to more devices.
The strategy appears to be paying dividends for the company. Samsung was the fastest growing 5G smartphone vendor in the first quarter of this year.
Samsung's 5G strategy is paying off
Samsung initially provided 5G support on its flagship devices. It later trickled down to the mid-range Galaxy A and even entry-level Galaxy M devices. Samsung offers 5G smartphones in just about every price range now. Some models are even available in countries where 5G networks have yet to go live.
The latest research from Strategy Analytics shows that global 5G smartphone shipments grew by 6% in the first quarter of 2021.
Demand for 5G smartphones remains very strong in the United States, Western Europe and China. Samsung turned out to be the world's fastest growing 5G smartphone vendor in Q1 2021. It shipped 17 million units during this period, this was a 79% increased compared to Q4 2020 in which it shipped 9.5 million units.
There's no stopping Samsung's incredible growth in the global 5G smartphone market. However, it still has a major portfolio gap in China. The company's smartphone market share, 5G or otherwise, remains very low in the country. China is the world's largest 5G market so it represents a huge opportunity for the company.
As we exclusively reported yesterday, Samsung will soon release a new 5G smartphone in China. It's going to be a unique model of the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Whether or not that helps increase its market share in the country remains to be seen.
