Low-price Chinese models boost smartphone ownership in SE Asia

The latest findings by market research firm GfK for the region reflect a spike in smartphone (including phablets) sales by 44 per cent in volume and 24 per cent in value compared with the same period a year ago.

The big developing countries are the ones fuelling the strong surge in adoption as many outside the big cities are probably just making the switch from their basic feature phone and acquiring their first smartphone, said Gerard Tan, account director for Digital World at GfK Asia. 

For instance, the markets of Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand have performed extremely well this year, reporting high growth of more than 30 per cent in generated revenue and even more in sales volume, he said.

Based on the latest data from GfK, the fastest-growing markets in terms of volume turnover in the past 12 months were Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, which reported 70-, 56- and 44-per-cent spikes in demand over the previous period. In value terms, it was Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand that drew in 52, 32 and 31 per cent more sales dollars against last year.

“A key driver fuelling the strong market performance, especially in the developing countries, is the introduction of more low-end models by new Chinese manufacturers, making smartphones more affordable and taking competition in the marketplace to an even more intense level,” Tan said. “These budget smartphone models have gone down particularly well in the developing markets.” 

Although international brands dominate the region’s smartphone market, Chinese brands are gaining significant presence, he said. “Major international brands are losing shares to the Chinese brands in price competition due to the low costs of the latter, which are selling their smartphones, including phablets, within the US$50-to-$200 range,” or Bt1,600-Bt6,450.