The 5G effect: Smartphone shipments should keep growing in the next five years

Global smartphone shipments are forecast to reach 1.38 billion units in 2021. — AFP Relaxnews

Global smartphone shipments are forecast to reach 1.38 billion units in 2021, an increase of 7.7% on 2020. This would mark the strongest year-on-year growth the smartphone market has seen since 2015, according to market intelligence firm, IDC. Shipments are then expected to increase at a lower but steady rate until 2025, to top 1.5 billion unit shipments that year.

After a challenging year in 2020 – evidently marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and its various lockdowns that hampered the market – growth is back and is forecast to continue.