Vietnam’s Handset Market grew 17%, but the smartphone shipment were flat in Q3 compared to the same period of last year, indicating growth in feature phones, Counterpoint Research announced.

Feature phones still account for a sizeable market for OEMs to target, and Q3 saw some dramatic shifts and the expansion of new players in the country, where smartphone penetration in terms of shipments reached 51% . Nokia HMD and iTel, which entered the Vietnamese market at the beginning of the year, escalated positions very quickly. In a market where over 30 smartphone players are competing, Nokia escalates to #2 position in the overall handset rankings and #4 in the smartphone segment, while iTel is in #5 position in both markets.

“Vietnam’s smartphone market is driven by the fast-growing $100-$150 price segment which is contributing to almost third of the shipments. Apart from this the premium smartphone segment (> $400) continues to do well in Vietnam, mainly driven by Samsung and Apple. The success of the premium segment is due to a growing trend of paying for flagship devices on installment schemes at zero interest. Samsung led the premium segment in Q3 2017 with 43% market share followed closely by Apple with 41% market share”, said Shobhit Srivastava, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Samsung still dominates the country with a market share of 43%, making Vietnam the only country in the APAC region where the company has a solitary lead over the competitors. In Vietnam’s Bestselling Smartphone of Q3 we have 4 Samsung’s smartphones: Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro (14% market share); Samsung Galaxy J2 Prime (10% market share); Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro (6% market share); Samsung Galaxy J3 2016 (5% market share).