The share of 5G handsets in the overall smartphone shipments in India soared to 87 per cent during the first half of 2025, reflecting the growing adoption of the new tech phones among consumers in the country.
According to the latest global data from Counterpoint Research, India now stands at 14th spot globally. The ranking of a country is based on its overall 5G share in total smartphone shipments.
This share was 47 per cent in the first half of 2023, and the country was in 40th spot. It went up substantially in the first half of 2024, hitting 74 per cent, and taking India to 29th rank in the global pecking order. However, India clearly has a long road to tread. Most developed countries have a 5G share of 90 per cent or above.
The reason is that over 300 million Indians still use 2G and 3G phones and their upgradation to even 4G has been slow. South Korea and Japan are on the top of the list, with 5G phones accounting for 97 per cent of total smartphone shipments in the first half of 2025, followed by China and Canada at 94 per cent and the US slightly behind at 93 per cent.
Shilpi Jain, senior analyst at Counterpoint, says that India will take two to three years to get into the top 5 since western European countries already have a high penetration of 5G. But Jain says they expect India to cross 90 per cent in 2026. But India was ahead of the global average, which was 71 per cent of overall shipments in the first half of 2025. The bottom ten countries in the list include Pakistan and Bangladesh, which saw an average 5G contribution of 15 per cent in their shipments, according to the research data.
-- Surajeet Das Gupta, Business Standard
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