Global mobile phone sales growth will top 9% in 2021, driven by 5G smartphone sales, which will be up more than 143% annually in for the year.

5G is poised to become the main handset technology worldwide by 2023.  In that year 5G smartphones will account for over 50% of handset sales, achieving this in just 4 years, the quickest that any G has achieved this milestone. In comparison, it took 4G handsets five years to reach a similar level.



4G isn't dead, even though LTE (4G) handset sales will decline -26% in 2021 because of growing interest in 5G devices. LTE still has 40% share of the global handset market in 2021 and the technology will continue to play an important role in cellular networks around the world for years to come.

Strategy Analytics' Device Technologies service tracks 5G as well as 2G, 3G and 4G phone sales across countries around the world. Our newest report, Global Handset Sales Forecast by 88 Countries and 19 Technologies: 2003 to 2026 paints a vivid picture of how technologies have and will change in coming years.  Clients can access the report here.