Market research firm Strategy Analytics said on Jan. 1 that Huawei topped the global 5G smartphone market with shipments of 79.6 million units (29.2 percent) last year, followed by Apple (52.3 million units, 19.2 percent) and Samsung Electronics (41 million units, 15.1 percent). It also mentioned that Apple and Samsung Electronics would outperform Huawei this year.

In 2019, when 5G was introduced, the market shares of Huawei and Samsung Electronics were 37.2 percent and 36 percent, respectively. Last year, however, Huawei widened the gap with the technology spreading fast in China. Apple, in the meantime, took the second place at one go thanks to the huge popularity of the iPhone 12 series, its first 5G smartphones.

According to the market research firm, the global 5G smartphone market is expected to reach 600 million units this year, more than double of last year’s market size, and Apple and Samsung Electronics are expected to account for 29 percent and 16.8 percent of the market, respectively.

“Huawei’s market share for this year is estimated to drop to 3.4 percent in the wake of U.S.-China trade disputes and so on,” it said, adding, “Those of Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi are estimated at 13.9 percent, 12.8 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively.”