As Southeast Asian nations continue to struggle with macroeconomic pressure, smartphone shipments in Thailand and the Philippines continue to decline.
According to the research firm, just 3.45 million smartphones were shipped in Thailand in Q1 2023, a 25.7% year-over-year decline. The blame was placed on high rates of inflation and pressures on disposable income from the economy.
Smartphones under US$200 have experienced “steep declines” and now make up 51% of all shipments, down from 60% in Q4 and 59% in Q1 2022.
The premium segment (above US$800), which currently makes up 19% of the market after increasing from 11% the previous year, saw substantial growth and raised its share of the market from 11% to 26%, or US$403 on average.
The rise in demand for high-end smartphones is what caused the share of 5G smartphones to rise from 33% to 45% year over year.
Samsung was the biggest shipper, accounting for 23.8% of the market, or 822.7 million units, but the Korean company saw a fall of 35.7%. Closely trailing in second place with a decline of 9.7% and a 22.3% drop in unit sales was Oppo.
With 19.4% of the market share and a 34.9% increase in units to 668.4 million, Apple experienced the fastest rate of growth in Thailand. Xiaomi shipped 438.7 million more units than it did in the previous quarter, giving it a 12.7% market share.
Additionally, Realme, a Chinese company, came in fifth place with a 14.2% market share, or 7.7%, a decrease of 12.5% from its previous position.
Apirat Ratanavichit, the IDC Thailand market analyst, stated, “The Thai smartphone market is expected to continue to decline in 2023. However, as the market is increasingly maturing, volume will be largely driven by the premium segment. There are some signs of economic recovery, and consumer confidence is increasing due to a pickup in tourist arrivals, which should translate into increasing consumer spending in the smartphone market; however, political uncertainty still looms overhead.”
Meanwhile, shipments to the Philippines fell by 11% year over year to 3.5 million units during the same quarter.
Furthermore, Transsion, a Chinese company that owns the Tecno and itel sub-brands, dethroned Realme from the top rank by capturing 19.5% of the market, compared to Realme's 18.7%. Oppo (15.5%) came in third, followed by Vivo (13.1%) and Xiaomi (11.9%).
According to client devices senior market analyst Angela Medez of IDC Philippines, “the last time shipments hit below 3.5 million records was back in 1Q20 when the pandemic just started and the first lockdown was implemented.
“Though it seems that the market has finally bottomed out and is on its road to recovery with inflation finally slowing down, IDC anticipates shipments to remain flat in 2023 as vendors will remain cautious with inflation still above comfortable levels,” she concluded.
