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Riding on the migration to 5G and iPhone 12 super cycle, global smartphone revenues will increase more than 13 per cent (on-year) in 2021, the highest revenue growth in six years.

China, the US, India and Japan will account for 54 per cent of all smartphone wholesale revenues worldwide in 2021.

Despite the economic uncertainty and dented consumer confidence caused by the coronavirus, the market will be able to bounce back in 2021, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics.

According to David Kerr, Senior VP, a downside risk remains in terms of volumes and value in India and Brazil, which are suffering through significant surges in Covid-19 currently.

"However, in general, we remain modestly optimistic about both replacement sales and new customers," Kerr said in a statement.

Although global smartphone wholesale revenues decreased -5 per cent YoY in 2020, as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic, "we expect them to rebound strongly +13 per cent in 2021 and continue to rise in the following years," said Boris Metodiev, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics.

"Economic recovery following Covid-19 related lockdowns globally, overdue replacement of ageing devices and higher component prices, as well as migration towards 5G, are all going to contribute to the revenue growth in 2021," he added.

The report said that global smartphone sales volume will grow more than 7 per cent (YoY) at 1.4 billion units, and global smartphone wholesale average selling price (ASP) will grow more than 6 per cent to $294 in 2021, resulting in smartphone wholesale revenue exceeding $400 billion.

"We expect the ultra-premium segment ($600 wholesale and above) to perform particularly well due to iPhone 12's super cycle, and to contribute to almost half of the overall wholesale revenues this year," commented Linda Sui, Senior Director at Strategy Analytics.