5G - 5G Devices Ecosystem: Executive Summary March 2020

5G Device Ecosystem

Key facts on 5G Device Ecosystem

A flurry of device launches (all originally timed to coincide with MWC 2020) meant a big leap in the number of announced 5G devices in February and early March. In January 2020, the number of announced 5G devices exceeded 200 for the first time; by early March over 250 devices had been announced.

By mid March 2020, GSA had identified:

• sixteen announced form factors (phones, head-mounted displays, hotspots, indoor CPE, outdoor CPE, laptops/notebooks, modules, snap-on dongles/adapters, industrial grade CPE/routers/gateways, drones, robots, tablets, TVs, a switch, modems and a vending machine).
• eighty-one vendors that had announced available or forthcoming 5G devices.
• two hundred and fifty-three announced devices (including regional variants, and phones that can be upgraded using a separate adapter, but excluding prototypes not expected to be commercialised and operator-branded devices that are essentially rebadged versions of other phones), including at least 67 that are commercially available
• eighty-seven phones, (up 25 from end January), at least 40 of which are now commercially available (up from 35 at end January). Includes three phones that are upgraded to offer 5G using an adapter.
• seventy-six CPE devices (indoor and outdoor, including two Verizon-spec compliant devices not meeting 3GPP 5G standards), at least 13 of which are now believed to be commercially available
• forty-three modules
• seventeen hotspots (including regional variants), at least nine of which are now commercially available
• five laptops (notebooks)
• five industrial grade CPE/routers/gateways
• three robots
• three televisions
• three tablets
• three USB terminals/dongles/modems
• two snap-on dongles/adapters
• two drones
• two head-mounted displays
• one switch
• one vending machine.

Not all devices are available immediately and specification details remain limited for some devices.

©2020 GSA