On March 18, Counterpoint released a monthly sales monitoring report on mobile phone models around the world, showing that the global sales penetration rate of 5G smartphones reached 51% in January 2022, surpassing 4G for the first time. China, North America and Western Europe were the biggest drivers of this growth. Among them, China's 5G penetration rate in January was the highest in the world, at 84%. Counterpoint pointed out that the push for 5G by Chinese operators, coupled with the fact that OEMs offer consumers competitively priced 5G smartphones, is a big reason for this growth.
5G smartphone penetration in North America and Western Europe reached 73% and 76%, respectively. Apple dominates North America and Western Europe, with sales of more than 50% and 30%, respectively. Especially after the iPhone 12 series, Apple achieved support for 5G, and the sales penetration of 5G smartphones in North America and Western Europe has also increased. In addition, the report also pointed out that in these regions, the average replacement cycle of iPhones is close to 4 years, which is very long.
Thanks to more affordable chips from MediaTek and Qualcomm, Android 5G smartphones entered a mid-to-high price range from $250 to $400 that gradually fell to the $150 to $250 price range, contributing one-fifth of January's 5G sales. In 2022, will everyone still consider 4G mobile phones when buying mobile phones?