Smartphone Sales Continue to Grow in Southeast Asia

Smartphone Sales Continue to Grow in Southeast Asia

Consumers in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam bought 1.2 million more smartphones in 2019, says research company GfK.

outheast Asia’s smartphone S sales volume rose by one per cent in 2019 amidst the two per cent decline in global demand. Overall, consumers across six of the region’s key markets snapped up nearly 97 million units of the device worth US$23 billion last year, a growth of four per cent in sales value compared to 2018.

Malaysia and Singapore grew at the same rate for both smartphone sales value and volume at 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, Thailand recorded a higher value over volume growth, at 13 per cent versus 6 per cent, while the Philippines’ growth stood at 5 per cent in value and 3 per cent in volume. Only Vietnam and Indonesia reported negative growth in the single-digit range.

“Over the years, consumers in the region have always been showing keen interest when it comes to mobile handsets, with many owning more than one set or changing their smartphone frequently,” explained Alexander Dehmel, Associate Director at GfK. “It should be highlighted that the higher value over volume growth recorded in the Southeast Asian smartphone market indicates that consumers are upgrading their devices, a trend that has been observed in recent years,” he added.

Consumers’ fixation with their smartphones also stems from the fact that in many markets, the device has become an integral part of the shopper journey. For instance, GfK’s latest FutureBuy report revealed that in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest market, over three-fifth (64%) of respondents agreed that their smartphone/tablet is their most important online shopping tool. In addition, more than half (58%) said they prefer to use their mobile device to pay for transactions – an affirmation that smartphones are increasingly playing a more dominant role in consumers’ daily life.

Innovations have been defining the smartphone market over the years and this is the area where easy-tograsp improvements are taking place. Following the mantra “the more, the better”, smartphone features continue to offer more and improved capabilities. One of the major technological advances, which is closely related to performance and experiences, is 5G.

“5G will be a hot topic this year, with Singapore spearheading the launch of this high-speed network in 2020. We can expect to see a lot of buzz around 5G network and also anticipate the market to be heating up with lots of promotions around new 5G smartphone models,” Dehmel said.

With the enhanced capabilities of in-phone cameras and their ability to capture high-quality images and videos, consumers prefer models with large internal storage to accommodate more media, making it one of the most important features consumers look out for when purchasing a smartphone. Nearly one-fifth (20%) of all devices sold have 128GB of storage or more, compared to only 6 per cent in the previous year. Singapore (18%) and Malaysia (6%) led the way for the highest proportion of sales coming from devices with internal storage of 256GB and above.

“Under normal circumstances, we would expect to see market performance in the region continuing its upward trend with even bigger and better phones being launched to satisfy consumers’ insatiable appetite for new devices,” commented Dehmel. “However, the Covid-19 situation will temporarily affect market performance in the region, and even globally. The impact of the coronavirus on global supply chains and production capacities along with weaker demand is likely to slow but not stop the growth of the category in Southeast Asia.”