Smartphone vendors have shipped a total of 485,000 5G phones in China by the end of September, according to a report released by market research firm IDC on Tuesday.
Vivo, which was among the earliest to ship 5G phones in China in the third quarter, even before commercial 5G networks were available, has grabbed a 54.3% market share in the country’s newborn 5G smartphone market.
Samsung took a 29% market share while Huawei followed with a 9.5% slice.
Samsung confirmed Monday that it is planning a major layoff affecting its smartphone sales and marketing staff, adding that this move aims to improve the firm’s competitiveness in China in the 5G era.
Xiaomi grabbed a 4.6% market share, and ZTE held a 1.5% market participation.
China Mobile, one of China’s three state-owned carriers, has started to officially commercialize 5G plans to its users since Friday in 50 cities. The cheapest China Mobile plan is priced at RMB 128 (USD 18) per month with a 30 GB quota. The other two state operators, China Unicom and China Telecom, are also currently offering similar packages to their users.
There are still some factors restraining 5G’s commercialization in the smartphone sector, including high costs in upstream industries, incomplete 5G network infrastructure nationwide and a lack of “killer-level 5G applications”, added IDC.
