Since its commercialisation in 1991, handsets have been evolving continuously. At first, it was just used for voice calls and texts messages using cellular technology, but now it turned to a smartphone loaded with a lot of sensors and advanced features like camera, internet facility, biometrics, and apps.

The smartphones market is dominated by leading brands but there are some local companies who are also now quite active. Some of the top smartphone companies include Samsung, Apple, Huawei, LG, HTC, Nokia, VIVO, Oppo, Xiaomi, Motorola and Lenovo.

It is estimated that around 1.4 billion smartphones were shipped in 2018, which declined by about 3% compared to 2017. It is expected that smartphones production will further see a small fall in 2019.

It is expected that more advanced features will be added in handsets in the coming years, which will provide a boost to the market through the replacement demand.

Some of the advanced features will include blockchain-enabled smartphones, high megapixels cameras, new authentication techniques, high speed, good storage space, and the additions of various advanced sensors.

One of the main driving forces for the rising demand for new handsets will be the complete commercialisation of 5G.

Some companies have already launched their 5G enabled smartphones, including Motorola Z3, Samsung S10, Huawei Mate X, LG V50 ThinQ, ZTE Axon 10 Pro, Nokia 10, and OPPO Reno. It is expected that Apple’s 5G phone will be released sometime during 2020.

It is assessed that the average global market value of smartphones was about US$ 520 billion in 2018. The Asia Pacific has the largest market in terms of market share and accounted for more than half of the global demand.