US 5G Smartphone Sales Extend Cross-Country in the First Month of Sales
Verizon’s 5G smartphone sales are dispersed all over the US, showing that consumer demand goes beyond the cities with 5G coverage.
San Diego, Buenos Aires, London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul
July 12, 2019
The US market shows 5G smartphone sales in over 10 cities in May despite Verizon only launching 5G services in Chicago and Minneapolis, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s US Smartphone Sales by City Tracker. While Chicago did show the highest concentration of sales, it represented only 5% of total 5G smartphone sales according to data collected across millions of sales data points during May.
Speaking about the initial 5G expansion in the US, Tom Kang, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, said, “Verizon started the nation’s first 5G service and also the world’s first 5G service with millimeter wave. In April, the service was launched in just two cities, Chicago and Minneapolis. Verizon continues to add cities slowly. Denver joined on June 27th and Rhode Island on July 1st.”
Kang continued, “The top 10 cities make up just one-third of all 5G smartphone sales in May. This indicates how widespread initial 5G smartphone sales have been, despite early predictions that sales will concentrate in cities with 5G service. Consumers are buying 5G capable devices across the country despite not having a 5G network available in most cases. Minneapolis, one of the two launch cities is not even in the top 10 list. Instead, we see cities like Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles in the top five cities list for 5G smartphone sales.”
Maurice Klaehne, Research Analyst, further commented, “In our newest US consumer survey, we see that many consumers are forward-looking when it comes to 5G smartphone purchases. Over 85% of consumers have some awareness of 5G and are planning their next smartphone purchase with 5G network capabilities in mind. In other words, consumers are futureproofing themselves with the purchase of a 5G device.”
Klaehne added, “In our 5G Korea report, we showcased how Korean consumers began purchasing 5G devices as they took advantage of aggressive promotion strategies and data plans that aligned with consumer needs despite the current network shortcomings. Korea now has all major carriers promoting 5G, and all major brands have a flagship 5G device.”
Counterpoint Research predicts that 5G smartphone sales will see a significant increase in the US once all carriers and smartphone brands are ready with their offerings. Our forecast for the US market for 5G smartphones is more than five million units in 2019.
Background:
Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in Technology products in the TMT industry. It services major technology firms and financial firms with a mix of monthly reports, customized projects and detailed analysis of the mobile and technology markets. Its key analysts are experts in the industry with an average tenure of 13 years in the high-tech industry.
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Author
Tom Kang
Tom is an expert in the telecoms industry with 14 years of experience. He provides practical advice for the short term goals of clients as well as insights for long term vision. Previously he was a celebrated world renowned analyst at Strategy Analytics. He first introduced value share and profit share. He also created the Smartphone Strategies service and headed the research growing it to become the largest service in the company. Tom also worked for LG Electronics within the Mobile Communications Company in various roles.
