60% of Smartphone Shipments Will Be 5G by Late 2022: IDC

IDC projects 5.3% unit growth in smartphone sales this year to 1.35 billion handsets globally, reported the research company Thursday. Lower than expected Q3 shipments, plus the continued component shortages and logistical challenges, caused IDC to downgrade its 2021 growth forecast from 7.4% in the previous guidance. "Although we expected a slowdown in the third quarter, the market declined by almost twice the projected rate as the supply chain and logistical challenges hit every major player in the market,” said IDC analyst Nabila Popal. “The shortage is more heavily concentrated on 4G components than 5G, which will impact vendors with a higher portfolio mix of 4G devices than vendors with a higher proportion of 5G models,” she said. "On the positive side, this is expected to accelerate the jump to 5G, which is now forecast to be almost 60% of worldwide shipments by this time next year.” 5G devices are expected to have 117% year-over-year sales growth in 2021 "driven by a supply-side push from both vendors and channels," said IDC. It pegs the average selling price of 5G smartphones at $643 in 2021. That's 1.7% higher than in 2020, "thanks to the massive success of iPhone 12 and 13 devices that are all 5G," it said.