Shipments of 5G-enabled end devices, including smartphones, CPE (consumer premise equipment) and Wi-Fi devices, are unlikely to ship in large-scale until 2021 after initial shipments kick off in 2019 with the volume reaching barely one million units, Digitimes Research estimates.

Shipments of 5G smartphones will account for 97% of total 5G end-device shipments as well as 18% global smartphone shipments in 2022, according to Digitimes Research.

Operating at sub-6GHz environment on NSA (non-standalone) networks, 5G smartphones still have to optimize their cost structures by modularizing front-end RF components and running a SoC solution for 4G/5G baseband chips and application processors.

Since 5G smartphones are to support millimeter wave (mmWave) transmission, which is subject to the limits of its shorter wavelength and its signals are susceptible to the influence of obstacles, 5G smartphones need to configure four to eight antenna arrays to enhance their reception capabilities, making the overall size and power consumption the new technology barriers for the production of 5G smartphones.