Qualcomm forecasts 450 mln in global 5G phone sales in 2021

Qualcomm Inc expects global smartphone makers to ship 450 million 5G handsets in 2021 and another 750 million in 2022, the world's largest supplier of mobile phone chips said on Tuesday. Going by Qualcomm's own previous forecast of 200 million 5G devices for next year, the 2021 forecast suggests 125% growth from 2020.

Qualcomm said 5G adoption will be faster than 4G due to the timing of commercialization of the technology in China and the availability of chipsets across different price tiers. Analysts attach importance to occasional smartphone estimate figures from Qualcomm, given its close relationship with phone makers.

Next-generation 5G smartphones are expected to make tasks like watching videos or playing games on mobile networks as good as or better than on a Wi-Fi connection. Qualcomm and its rivals stand to benefit from faster 5G adoption because the phones will require more chips to gain the speed boost.