Thailand Mobile Phone Market Remained Resilient in 4Q 2011 despite the Disastrous Floods, says IDC
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Thailand Mobile Phone Shipments, 2011 Source: IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 4Q 2011
Thailand's mobile phone market could not escape the devastating impact of the floods during the last quarter of 2011, but the market showed remarkable resilience as demand bounced back strongly after the flood waters subsided.
The mobile phone market in 4Q 2011 grew sequentially by 6% and by an impressive 20% compared to the same period in 2010 with smartphones being the driving force for the growth. Smartphone shipments rose by 66% sequentially, achieving almost one-fourth of the total mobile phone market. This also marked the first time that smartphone shipments exceeded 1 million units in a single quarter in Thailand, as entry-level smartphones continued to perform strongly at the expense of the high-end feature phones.
"Although severely affected by the floods in October and November, demand for mobile phones sprung up again immediately after the situation improved. The demand for entry-level smartphones in 4Q helped spur the total mobile phone market in 2011 to an annual growth of 19%," says Jarit Sidhu, Associate Market Analyst for Client Devices Research at IDC Thailand.
In 2011, the feature phone market grew by 10% year-on year (YoY) while the smartphone market ended the year in style with a strong growth of over 200% compared to 2010.
"The high growth of smartphones in 2011 was the result of vendors offering a larger variety of devices at different price points to address different consumer demands. IDC expects the momentum to continue in the coming years as improvements in devices and wider coverage of 3G services will stimulate further demand for smartphones," Jarit adds.
IDC's latest forecasts show that the feature phone market is reaching its saturation point. From 2012 onwards, IDC expects single-digit percentage growth for this market. The smartphone market, on the other hand, has a much brighter future ahead and is expected to continue gaining traction with growth of more than 50% expected this year.
