In price-sensitive Southeast Asia, smartphone shipments slip once more: Omdia

Smartphone shipments in Southeast Asia slipped 1 per cent year-on-year within the third quarter, as producers incurred larger prices for reminiscence and storage elements, based on analysis agency Omdia.

Shipments for 9 key markets, together with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, totalled 25.6 million items, reflecting a 3rd consecutive quarter of falling shipments, based mostly on a research launched as we speak.

In a market that’s numerous however usually price-sensitive, Samsung continued to be the highest cellphone maker with 18 per cent of telephones shipped, due to markets reminiscent of Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam that valued pricier fashions. Nonetheless, like its rivals within the area, the Korean electronics large is dealing with robust competitors for shoppers fast to change manufacturers.

Certainly, second-place Transsion, the Chinese language producer for cellphone manufacturers reminiscent of Tecno and Infinix, additionally has about 18 per cent of the Southeast Asian market, due to extra inexpensive fashions which can be engaging in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The leaders are adopted by different Chinese language cellphone makers focusing on the area aggressively. Xiaomi has 17 per cent (helped by its Poco low-cost vary), whereas Oppo managed to seize 15 per cent and Vivo has 11 per cent, based on Omdia.

Nonetheless, the falling shipments within the newest report additionally mirror how tough it’s to maintain promoting low-cost telephones to win market share. In a area the place 60 per cent smartphones shipped are priced beneath US$200, the rising price of elements is turning into a giant barrier.

“Rising BoM [bill of materials] prices, pushed largely by larger reminiscence and storage costs, will place vital stress on lower-priced units,” mentioned Le Xuan Chiew, a analysis supervisor at Omdia.

“To handle rising prices, distributors might want to steadiness aggressive pricing with robust selections on whether or not to regulate costs, cut back {hardware} prices, or cut back advertising to guard margins,” he added.

Some manufacturers reminiscent of Oppo and Vivo are actually prioritising worth over quantity, although Honor and Xiaomi are specializing in driving quantity to broaden model penetration, based on Omdia.

A notable instance, it identified, is Honor’s X6c – the model’s expanded channel protection helped to greater than double its quarterly shipments.

In the event you’re questioning the place is Apple in all this, it’s tops in Singapore, which has a comparatively small market by items shipped. The iPhone maker has a commanding 43 per cent share, edging it previous Samsung (32 per cent), and leaving the remaining – Oppo (7 per cent), Xiaomi (6 per cent) and Honor (5 per cent) – far behind.