VietNamNet Bridge – Seventy percent of Vietnamese people still don’t have smart phones, which means that Vietnam remains a potential market for manufacturers to exploit.

Foreign brands have to compete fiercely with each other on the Vietnamese smart phone market, which makes people think the market has got saturated. However, in fact over 70 percent of Vietnamese consumers still don’t have smart phones.

The reports by market survey firms showed that 17 million Vietnamese, or just 20 percent of the total population, now use smart phones. Therefore, more and more products have been introduced in Vietnam.

Big manufacturers now target middle-class market segment

Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Sony and some other “big guys,” which have been well-known for their high-end products, have jumped into the middle-class market segment while marketing the products priced at between VND4-7 million.

Samsung, for example, has Galaxy Trend (VND3.99 million), Galaxy Ace 3 (4.39 million), while HTC has HTC Desire 500 (VND7.5 million), Nokia has Nokia Lumina 620 (VND4.79 million), Sony has Xperia M (VND5.2 million) and Xperia E Dual  (VND3.5 million).

Nokia is believed to be the manufacturer that first jumped into the middle class market segment and has gained the biggest achievements. While the high-class Lumina 920 proves to be inferior to the rivals’ high-end products, Lumina 520 has been selling very well in the middle-class market segment.

The Gioi Di Dong, the biggest phone distribution chain in Vietnam, has confirmed that Lumina 520 is the middle-class best seller.

In Vietnam, while the urban markets have become more “cramped” for manufacturers, the rural markets remain open. Medium-class smart phones have been bought by medium income earners in big cities, while they are still considered luxurious products in rural areas.

Nguyen Manh Hung, Deputy General Director of the Military Telecom Group Viettel, said that the smart phone market would be more bustling when a smart phone is priced at less than $20, affordable to everyone.

Hung thinks that in 2014, Vietnamese manufacturers can churn out the products with the selling prices at $30-35.

Affordable smart phone market still very large

Having realized the great potentials of the popular smart phone market, Vietnamese manufacturers have launched a lot of their products at “reasonable prices” to attract customers.

In 2012, Q-Mobile launched a series of versions with multi-touch and entertainment features, priced at VND1.5-3 million. Viettel marketed V8404 running on Android at VND1.5 million, while VNPT marketed Vivas Lotus S1 at VND3.9million. HKPhone has a wide range of products with the selling prices between VND3 million and VND6 million.

Observers have noted that the products still cannot generate a “low-cost smart phone wave” because of the high prices and low quality.

However, the market is still very large and potential with high demand for the products with reasonable prices.

Do Giang Vinh, Chief Representative of Haier Mobile in Vietnam, said the company has launched a series of affordable products with the prices of VND1-3 million.

Vinh said when Haier, which previously specialized in household use appliances and electronics, decided to develop smart phones; he met the partners to negotiate about the sale of the models in Vietnam because he can see the great potentials here.

K. Chi