Beijing, Jan 15 (IANS): Chinese local research agencies suggests that 20 per cent of all mid range smartphones will support 5G, thanks to the expansion of the network in the country.

An estimated 5 million 5G capable smartphones were sold in December 2019 alone it is expected that more than 20 per cent of the smartphones under $290 will be 5G enabled this year, news portal GSMArena reported on Tuesday.

By 2021, the same statistics are expected to be applicable across the globe.

Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun recently announced the company is planning to pump $7 billion in 5G, AI and IoT over the next five years.

Lei said: "We need to turn our continuous advantage we have in a combination of AI, internet technologies and intelligent life into absolute victory in the intelligent scene, and completely cement our king status in the smart era."

Earlier, Lei had also revealed that the company is planning to release more than 10 5G phones this year.

Additionally, US based investment banking and financial service company Goldman Sachs forecasted a hefty 200 million 5G smartphone shipments globally this year.

The new predicted value is about 20 times more than the sales figure of 2019.

According to estimates, there will be about 1 million new 5G base stations in China this year. This is higher than the original 600,000 prediction by Goldman Sachs.