5G Smartphones Might Come To India In First Half Of 2020: Report

Despite the fact that telecom operators are not willing to buy the 5G spectrum, handset makers are planning to bring 5G-ready devices to India. In fact, it is expected that they will launch 5G devices in the first half of this year. The upcoming smartphones are likely to price at the higher end.

According to the TechArc report, there are high chances that smartphones companies will bring 15-18 models in 2020, and those devices will be priced above Rs.30,000.

Another research firm IDC says that the companies will bring both 4G and 5G variants this year. "We believe in 2020, brands will come up with 5G phones priced above $500 (Rs 35,800) along with their 4G variants, which will be cheaper by Rs 10,000. Only towards the beginning of 2021, we expect prices of 5G phones to fall below $300," Navkender Singh, research director at IDC India was quoted by Economic Times.

Meanwhile, TechArc expects that the companies will sell 1.5 million smartphones in the country. The report also reveals that companies like OnePlus, Xiaomi, Micromax, Huawei, and Vivo are already selling 5G smartphones in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

In fact, all chipset makers like Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung, and Huawei are developing 5G technology. On the other hand, it said that OnePlus is also developing 5G smartphones in India and exporting to other countries. However, this is just a pilot project.

"We are not expecting any large scale commercialization of 5G phones in 2020 because of the uncertainty around 5G network. It is difficult to say whether debt-laden telecom operators will be able to bid for high-priced 5G spectrum auction in 2020," said Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research. Adding to that, "However, once this happens, the prices of 5G models will fall faster than they did for their 4G or 3G counterparts."