The "5G" commercialized smartphone sales competition, which focuses on the next-generation high-speed communication standard, will be fully launched. 5G will become the soil for new services such as Ultra HD online video. Major smartphone manufacturers are stepping up their technology competition. The saturation of the global smartphone market is becoming more apparent, but the role of smartphones as a “gateway” to data collection will be further strengthened. The battle for smartphones targeting the 5G era is becoming increasingly fierce.

According to "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported on February 25, the maximum speed of 5G reaches 20GB per second. Compared with the current 4G, the actual speed of the former is 100 times higher than the latter. At the 2019 World Mobile Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, which opened on the 25th, products and services that will be commercialized in various countries will be displayed from 2019 to 2020.

5G mobile phone debut

In fact, as early as February 20, Samsung took the lead in releasing the "Galaxy Fold" foldable smartphone in San Francisco. Folded up is a 4.6-inch smartphone that expands into a 7.3-inch tablet. This is the number one seed in a new generation of smartphones in the industry known as "collapsible phones." Mobile phones corresponding to 5G will be released in the US and South Korea after April.

The phone is priced at a minimum of $1980 in the United States and is expensive. Although it is difficult to expect a lot of sales, the managers who led the Samsung smartphone business are full of expectations: "It will become an innovator who portrays new experiences on mobile devices."

Not only Samsung, on the 24th local time, Huawei also released the first 5G folding screen mobile phone in Barcelona.

The report pointed out that since Apple launched the iPhone, the smartphone market, which has been growing for about 10 years, is welcoming the turning point. According to data from IDC, the US survey company, the world's smartphone shipments decreased by 4% in 2018 compared with the previous year, only about 1.4 billion units, down for two consecutive years.

The high-end models of Samsung, Huawei and other manufacturers hope to break the stagnation of the smartphone market through the increase of functions. On the other hand, the trend of pursuing share in emerging markets by lowering prices has become clear. The mass production effect is no longer a focus, and the focus is on the “data” that adds importance in the 5G era.

According to reports, the United States Google plans to launch a price-reducing smartphone during the year. The camp with Google's Android operating system has an advantage in the low price. In order to avoid competition with the camp, Google's strategic focus is placed on high-end mobile phones, but in the future it will also enter the low-priced product market.

New dominance dispute

The report pointed out that 5G has the feature of rapidly transmitting large amounts of data with little communication delay, and will become an important basis for the Internet of Things (IoT) where all items are connected to the Internet.

By then, hardware devices will become the "gateway" for data. For instance, smart speakers, smart watches, cars and home appliances will serve as an "entry" for collecting data from consumers.

According to the report, in the 5G era, in the hardware terminal, it is considered to be the smartphone in the first place that is considered to be the "portal". According to MMD Labo's “Real Survey of Smartphone Users”, more than 70% of the total smartphone usage time per day is more than two hours. How to analyze the data collected by smartphones and generate new services will become the key to the competitiveness of enterprises.

In many developed countries, the smartphone market is shrinking, but there are still strong demand in some emerging markets. For example, the Indian market increased by 15% in 2018 compared with the previous year, reaching 140 million. In India, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has grown rapidly with low prices, and in 2018, Samsung took the first place in market share. According to Taiwan's report on the 25th, on the 24th, Xiaomi released the first mobile phone MIX3 5G equipped with 5G technology at the World Mobile Communications Conference (MWC). It is expected to be launched in May and priced at 599 euros.

In the world smart phone market, which opened the 5G curtain, the new dominant power dispute is gradually becoming fierce around high functionality and low price.

At the dawn of 5G, for companies like Google, the market share of smartphones is different from the previous ones. Google and others hope to enter such a fast-growing market through low-priced smartphones.

Apple's situation

Meanwhile, the arrogant Apple has encountered a helpless reality. According to Taiwan's "Business Times" reported on February 25, the US chip maker Intel said on the 22nd that the 5G modem chip developed by the company will not bebe able to used on mobile devices such as mobile phones until 2020. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to this Intel's largest customer, which may result in Apple's 5G iPhone to come out more than a year behind the opponent. This may cause Apple to be passive in the 5G mobile phone market.

The news released by Intel means that the iPhone may not be able to join this year's 5G war this year. This also indirectly confirms the media's December report - Apple may not be able to launch the 5G iPhone until 2020.