China Academy of Information and Communications Technology: China's 5G mobile phone shipments in March reached 27.498 million units, a year-on-year increase of 76.2%

On April 12, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology released an analysis report on the operation of the domestic mobile phone market in March 2021. It is understood that in March 2021, the total shipments of the domestic mobile phone market were 36.094 million units, a year-on-year increase of 65.9%; from January to March, the total shipments of the domestic mobile phone market totaled 97.973 million units, a year-on-year increase of 100.1%.

Figure 1 Domestic mobile phone market shipments

In March 2021, 41 new mobile phone models were launched in China, a year-on-year increase of 32.3%. From January to March, a total of 122 new models were launched, a year-on-year increase of 48.8%.

It is worth noting that in March 2021, the domestic market shipped 27.498 million 5G mobile phones, accounting for 76.2% of the total mobile phone shipments in the same period; 16 new models were launched, accounting for 39.0% of the number of new mobile phone models launched in the same period. From January to March, the domestic market shipped 69.846 million 5G mobile phones and launched 64 new models, accounting for 71.3% and 52.5% respectively.

Figure 2 Domestic 5G mobile phone shipments and share

2020 is the first year of 5G development, and 2021 is the year of accelerated development of 5G users. Judging from the number of 5G users released by the three major operators recently, it can also be seen that the shipment speed of 5G mobile phones has increased significantly. Jin Feng, an expert in the communications industry, said that the development of 5G users in 2020 can be summarized by three keywords.

• First, there are a large number of them. As of the end of 2020, the number of 5G package users of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom were 165.003 million, 86.50 million and 70.83 million respectively, totaling 322.333 million, which is similar to the construction of 5G base stations and accounts for more than 70% of the global user share.
• Second, the penetration rate is high. Comparing the number of 5G package users with the total number of mobile users, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom account for 17.5%, 24.6% and 23.2% respectively, and the total for the entire network is 20.2%, which means that in the first full year of 5G commercial use, one in every five users is a 5G user.
• The third is balance. Every iteration of mobile communication technology is an opportunity for industry reshuffle. Although China Mobile still occupies a leading position, there is a trend of balance.