IDC: 1.1 billion 5G connections in 2023

IDC is predicting that the number of 5G connections will grow from roughly 10.0 million in 2019 to 1.01 billion in 2023. By 2023, IDC expects 5G will represent 8.9% of all mobile device connections.

"While there is a lot to be excited about with 5G, and there are impressive early success stories to fuel that enthusiasm, the road to realizing the full potential of 5G beyond enhanced mobile broadband is a longer-term endeavor, with a great deal of work yet to be done on standards, regulations, and spectrum allocations," said Jason Leigh, research manager for Mobility at IDC. "Despite the fact that many of the more futuristic use cases involving 5G remain three to five years from commercial scale, mobile subscribers will be drawn to 5G for video streaming, mobile gaming, and AR/VR applications in the near term."