5G Smartphone Interest Unabated, Qualcomm Reports

COVID-19 is badly suppressing smartphone demand globally, but Qualcomm is standing by its pre-pandemic 2020 forecast on worldwide 5G smartphone adoption, said CEO Steve Mollenkopf on a fiscal Q2 call Wednesday. It’s projecting that smartphone vendors will ship 175 million-225 million 5G handsets globally this calendar year. A “few regions” are experiencing “minor delays” in 5G network deployments due to the pandemic, said Mollenkopf. 5G momentum “is progressing as planned,” and poised for “rapid adoption,” he said. Most 5G smartphone launch plans “across all regions remain on track,” said Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala. He cautioned supply-chain disruptions might bring “some minor changes to the launch timing and sell-through of certain devices.” OEMs “are being very aggressive” on 5G smartphone pricing, said Palkhiwala. As China came out of lockdown in March and experienced a rebound in smartphone demand, Qualcomm estimates 30% of the devices “sold into the channel were 5G,” he said “That's really much stronger than even we had expected.” Qualcomm estimates the global smartphone market declined 21% in Q2, mainly due to the China lockdown, said Mollenkopf. The quarter ended March 29. For Q3 ending late June, Qualcomm forecasts smartphone demand will be down about 30%, he said.