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China OEMs Focus on Low End 5G Phones
May 31, 2020
China is building out its 5G networks, with only a minor perturbation from the COVID-19 pandemic and shipments of smartphones in China took a big jump in April as both travel and social restrictions were eased in most Chinese cities. The underlying driver for 5G, other than coverage and plan pricing is smartphone pricing, where Chinese brands excel. This month and next expect at least three Chinese brands; Honor, Huawei and Xiaomi to release 5G smartphones selling for $275 or less, the lowest prices for 5G smartphones seen to date.
Table 1: Comparison of Low-End 5G Smartphones – Chinese OEMs vs. Samsung
China OEMs Focus on Low End 5G Phones
May 31, 2020
China is building out its 5G networks, with only a minor perturbation from the COVID-19 pandemic and shipments of smartphones in China took a big jump in April as both travel and social restrictions were eased in most Chinese cities. The underlying driver for 5G, other than coverage and plan pricing is smartphone pricing, where Chinese brands excel. This month and next expect at least three Chinese brands; Honor, Huawei and Xiaomi to release 5G smartphones selling for $275 or less, the lowest prices for 5G smartphones seen to date.
Table 1: Comparison of Low-End 5G Smartphones – Chinese OEMs vs. Samsung
Source: SCMR, LLC
When India begins its recovery, consumers will likely look toward Chinese brands that provide an ‘almost all’ feature set, but sell for under $300 unless Realme goes even lower.
Figure 1: 5G Smartphone Shipments - China
Source: SCMR LLC, CAIST
Chinese smartphone brands have continually reduced the prices of new 5G models since the service began last year pushing Chinese brands to capture 60.6% of 5G smartphone sales in Q120, with Samsung capturing a 34.4% share (the largest of all brands). While 2019 might not be a good representation of the 5G market, given there was little consumer activity until around mid-year, of the ~18.7m 5G smartphones that were shipped last year, 13.8 were shipped in China (73.8%), with Chinese brands holding a 54.0% share.