Global sales of 5G smartphones will hit 160 million in 2020 if the technology takes off in China as expected, according to Strategy Analytics, which tipped vendor Huawei to emerge as the major winner.

In a statement, the analyst firm said Huawei was best positioned to capture the majority of China’s 5G smartphone sales and the company could leverage that success “to regain its global smartphone standing”.

Commenting, Ville Petteri-Ukonaho, associate director at Strategy Analytics, said China “holds the key to 5G volumes in 2020”, and the company that can grab the largest 5G device market share “will have huge leverage for driving down the learning curve of 5G devices”.

SVP David Kerr noted that South Korean vendor Samsung is currently the leading 5G device company, but it currently only has 1 per cent market share in China.

As China is expected to be the largest 5G smartphone market, with phone sales potentially hitting 80 million in 2020, the path is clear for Huawei to take advantage.

“Huawei has recently accelerated and intensified its efforts in its home market to counter international uncertainty,” he said. “By Q2 2019, it had expanded its smartphone market share there to almost 40 per cent, far outpacing all other competitors.

Kerr added: “If China meets its aggressive targets, Huawei could cut deeply into Samsung’s 5G leadership, positioning it for recovery and growth in western Europe and other global markets.”