The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) today reported the number of 5G devices has continued to steadily increase. In January 2020, the number of announced 5G devices exceeded 200 for the first time; by the end of July 364 devices had been announced, of which 162 were understood to be commercially available (up from 135 at the end of June). In addition, the number of announced 5G phones has more than doubled since the end of 2019 and is up by 86% over the last four months.
‘As more and more 5G services are being launched worldwide, we can see the number of devices soaring with an ever growing range of form factors,’ said Joe Barrett, President of Global mobile Suppliers Association. ‘Specifically the 5G phone market is seeing explosive growth having more than doubled since the end of 2019 and increasing by 86% over the last four months alone, indicating ever accelerating growth of the 5G ecosystem.’
Part of the GSA Analyser for Mobile Broadband Devices (GAMBoD) database, the GSA’s 5G device tracking reports global device launches across the 5G ecosystem and contains key details about device form factors, features and support for spectrum bands. Access to the GAMBoD database is only available to GSA Members and to GSA Associates subscribing to the service.
Other key findings in the report include:
- 18 announced form factors (phones, head-mounted displays, hotspots, indoor CPE, outdoor CPE, laptops/notebooks, modules, snap-on dongles/adapters, industrial grade CPE/routers/gateways/modems, drones, robots, tablets, TVs, cameras, USB modems, a switch, a vehicle OBU and a vending machine).
- 91 vendors who had announced available or forthcoming 5G devices.
- 364 announced devices (including regional variants, and phones that can be upgraded using a separate adapter, but excluding operator-branded devices that are essentially rebadged versions of other phones), including 162 that are understood to be commercially available:
- 162 (up 27 from June), at least 113 of which are now commercially available (up 18 in a month). Includes three phones that are upgraded to offer 5G using an adapter.
GSA also tracks spectrum band support of 5G devices. 75.5% of *all* announced 5G devices are identified as supporting sub-6 GHz spectrum bands while 22.3% are understood to support mmWave spectrum. Just 16.8% of all announced devices are known to support both mmWave and sub-6 GHz spectrum bands. Only 31 of the commercially available devices (19.1% of them) are understood to support services operating in mmWave spectrum, but 87.0% of the commercially available devices are known to support sub-6 GHz spectrum.
The bands known to be most supported by all announced 5G devices are n78, n41, n79, n77, n1 and n3. At the end of July, the number of announced devices known to support Bands n1 and n77 had passed the 100 mark for the first time, reaching 107 and 110 devices respectively. Meanwhile the number of announced devices supporting Band 79 had reached 120, the number of
announced devices supporting Band n41 had reached 152 and the number of announced devices supporting Band n78 had reached 176.
About GSA
GSA is the voice of the global mobile ecosystem representing companies engaged in the supply of infrastructure, semiconductors, test equipment, devices, applications and mobile support services. The organisation plays a central role in promoting 3GPP technology, advocating spectrum policies and stimulating IMT industry development. The association is a single source ofinformation for industry reports and market intelligence
The GSA GAMBoD database is a unique search and analysis tool that has been developed to enable searches of LTE and 5G devices and new global data on Mobile Broadband Networks, Technologies and Spectrum (NTS). Results are presented as a list or in charts. Charts may be inserted into documents or presentations, subject to accreditation of GSA as the source.
GAMBoD is a resource dedicated to promoting the success and growth of the Mobile Broadband (MBB) industry and ecosystem and is fully available to all employees of GSA Executive and Ordinary Member companies and GSA Associates who subscribe to the service.
