Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun pledged to launch more than ten 5G smartphones in 2020 and urged operators to step-up efforts to expand coverage of the technology, Reuters reported.

Speaking at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Lei highlighted early success of the vendor’s first 5G smartphone, the Mi 9 Pro, which launched last month. He noted sales of the device exceeded expectations and caused supply chain issues, and pledged to build on this by launching a compatible device across all price tiers in 2020.

Lei also highlighted a potential downturn in sales of 4G smartphones as consumers hold-off for the next-generation as a threat, but stated launching 5G is a step operators cannot avoid, making it essential they “speed up their expansion of 5G base stations”.

In Q2 the Chinese manufacturer posted a sharp drop in profit and its slowest revenue growth since going public.