2020 will be difficult for mobile phone manufacturers, and analysts at CCS Insight believe that compared with 2019, smartphone shipments will be reduced by 250 million units this year. The total number of smartphones this year is expected to be 1.26 billion units, the lowest level in a decade.
The impact of the epidemic will be most noticeable in the second quarter, which will cause a sharp decline in total shipments by 29%, but the problem will continue until the end of this year, and even affect holiday sales.
Although most consumers are staying at home and the store is closed, the demand has not completely disappeared. However, the company is responding to disruptions in the supply chain and therefore cannot meet the demand for certain products. Compared with 2019, this year’s holiday season mobile phone sales are expected to decrease by 3%.
On the positive side, the market is expected to rebound quickly. According to CCS data, the suppressed demand this year will increase sales next year by 12%. This boom will continue until 2022 when shipments will reach nearly 2 billion.
Manufacturers are actively reducing the price of 5G mobile phones. It is expected that in 2020, a total of 210 million 5G mobile phones will be sold, which is a tenfold increase from last year. Looking into the near future, most mobile phones sold by 2024 will have 5G connections (1.15 billion).