Low cost smart phones still live well amid their predicted ill fate

24/06/2013

VietNamNet Bridge – contrary to all predictions that low cost smart phones would soon disappear from the market because of their low quality, the products still have been selling very well and become more and more favored by customers.

VnMedia newspaper, which conducted a mini survey on the mobile phone market, has come to a conclusion that it was not high end smart phones, but the medium class and low cost products which were the best sellers in the market last week.

24h.com has reported that Hanoians now rush to buy VIVO HD, a kind of low cost and multi-functional product distributed by AVAtelecom. VIVO HD is now priced at VND4.2 million, which, in the eyes of consumers, is a very reasonable price, if noting that it can connect TV, allows users to watch TV and play heavy games and to make documents.

Low cost smart phones are understood as the products with the retail prices of no more than VND5 million per product.

The owner of a mobile phone shop on Thai Ha Street in Hanoi said 7 out of every 10 visitors to the shop ask to buy low cost smart phone products.

“The current economic difficulties and the outstanding integrated features in the phones are the reasons which make low cost products sell well,” he said.

Thegioididong, the biggest mobile phone distribution chain in Vietnam, has also reported the good sales of low cost smart phones, saying that the sales of the products amounting to 62 percent of the total smart phones sold.

Galaxy Y, Lumia 520, Sony Xperia E, priced at VND2-3.5 million prove to be the most wanted models. The models sourced from China including Ktouch Smartworld, Mobel S18, Mobell S98, Mobisstar touch S06, Q Smart S5, S6 amounted to 18 percent of the sold products.

The distributor thinks that the sales of low cost models would increase by 10 percent by the end of the year, because there would be not many high grade models to be debuted by that time.

Meanwhile, GfK, a market survey firm, believes that the smart phones with the selling prices of VND2.5-3.5 million would see the sharp growth rate of 200 percent in 2013 over the previous year.

Hoang Long, Business Director of HKPhone, has noted that Revo sales have never been as high as in the last five months.

“The sales were 65 percent higher than the expected levels in some months,” he said.

Long believes that people buy low cost smart phones because they are attracted by the good design and the acceptable quality. The low cost models prove to fit the pockets of popular consumers, thus allowing students, office workers or low income earners to approach to the world of “smart phones.”

If noting that a high end smart phone is priced at over VND10 million, then low cost products priced at less than VND5 million would allow people to save big sums of money, while they still can approach high technology products.

As the demand increases, the competition among low cost mobile phone manufacturers has become hotter than ever. The manufacturers not only try to launch the products with good design and appearance, but also try to make the products with strong configuration. FPT V and FPT IV, for example, having the selling prices at VND4 million only, but they are equipped with quad core chips 1.2 GHz, RAM1 GB.

Source: Compiled by C. V