"China was slowly recovering in the second quarter while other regions were fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. This in turn allowed the Chinese vendors to expand their 5G product portfolio in their home market. In 2020Q2, almost half of the smartphones in China were shipped with 5G connectivity – ahead of other regions or countries," says Will Wong, Research Manager for Client Devices at IDC Asia/Pacific.

In China, more than 43 million 5G smartphones were shipped in 2020Q2, with the weighted average selling price falling below US$500. Since the first 5G smartphone launched in 2019Q3, China has so far shipped a total of 67 million 5G handsets.

In the 5G space, Huawei Hisilicon was the largest supplier of 5G processors in China, followed by Qualcomm. While MediaTek has gained share with its cheaper processors, Samsung has also become a key supplier in the local market by partnering with vivo.

"A number of 5G models are getting attention for their aggressive prices at or below the RMB 2,000 (US$290) mark, but these have not been the bulk of the shipments yet. Nevertheless, as cheaper 5G processors are expected to launch in the second half of the year, this pricing segment will pick up its momentum," says Xi Wang, Research Manager for Client System Research at IDC China.