Almost 21 million smartphones sold in Thailand last year: IDC

According to the IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone sales in Thailand grew by 20.9 per cent in 2021 from the previous year, the highest in Southeast Asia, with 5.5 million being were sold in the last quarter of 2021 – a growth of 16.6 per cent – due to seasonal promotions and retail sales recovery after lockdown measures were eased.

One highly popular phone was Apple’s iPhone 13, while 5G smartphones stole one-third of market share in the fourth quarter. Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy A52s, Vivo Y76 and Redmi Note 10 also proved highly popular.

Sales of 5G smartphones in Thailand were the highest in Southeast Asia. Thailand placed third in sales in the Asia-Pacific region (not including China and Japan), after India and South Korea, respectively.

IDC market analyst Teerit Paowan said sales in 2021 were “extremely strong” because demand had piled up from the previous year as devices were in shortage. Sales were also supported by the government’s Covid-19 compensation and cheap 5G smartphones.

“IDC believes the growth will be stable in 2022 but 14 per cent higher than pre-pandemic 2012,” Teerit said.

“A Dtac-True merger is likely to cause fierce competition in the short term in an expansion of the customer base. However, the limitation in supplies will cause a bottleneck at least in the first half of 2022.”

The top five brands in Q4

Samsung retained the first place even with a shortage of the A-series model. Promotions and incentives were focused on flagship phones that increased the sales of the Galaxy S21.

Xiaomi jumped into second place due to a recovery in the delivery of the Redmi series. The firm tried to expand its offline platforms by opening 13 new Xiaomi stores in December.

Apple grew both year-over-year and on-quarter with the iPhone 13 even amid a shortage and high prices of the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Oppo also witnessed a tight supply of affordable 4G smartphones. Meanwhile, its mid-range Reno 6 was well-received but sales of the Reno 6 Pro weren’t impressive because of its high price.

Vivo too was affected by the shortage, especially for its affordable phones such as the Y series. But the firm boosted its stores and partner stores and increased its sales staff.

Teerit explained that with limited supplies, especially for affordable 4G devices, brands had to adapt to the situation. For example, they branched out into using chips from new manufacturers such as Unisoc and focused on manufacturing best-selling models.

Small brands such as HMD (Nokia), Lenovo (Motorola) and TCL took a significant leap in the market as they focused on affordable phones that were in high demand, Teerit added.