IDC THAILAND: SMARTPHONE MARKET DECLINED A MODERATE 9% YOY IN 2Q2020

IDC Thailand: Smartphone Market Declined a Moderate 9% YoY in 2Q2020

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           BANGKOK, September 15 , 2020 - In the second quarter of
           2020, the Thai smartphone market shipped 4.3 million units,
           increasing by 21.2% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) but dropping
           8.8% year-over-year (YoY).

           The second quarter of the year usually records a quarterly
           increase in shipments due to seasonality and this was not
           dampened by the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic,
           as OEMs quickly adapted to focus more on the online
           channels and ran multiple promotional campaigns during the
           quarter. As a result, while the sales in the retail channel were
           almost flat QoQ, eTailers registered a four-fold growth.

           Vendors and operators were able to quickly adapt to the
           interruption in physical retail activities and found alternatives
           using various online platforms and were able to continue
           with their sales and marketing through official websites and
           eTailers while leveraging social media platforms which they
           used to for promotions as well as sales.

           New models launched by vendors such as OPPO’s A12,
           Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 9 and Huawei’s Y5p were well received
           in the market due to their attractive price points. However,
           Mid-to-high end segment contributed to bulk of the growth
           where Samsung’s A71 and Apple’s iPhone SE (2020) gained
           good traction

           While Thai smartphone has started to recover, IDC expects
           smartphone unit shipments to decline in 3Q20 due to
           seasonally low demand during the quarter and as economic
           pressures continue to weigh down on consumer demand for
           the next few months. However, 4Q20 will see a boost as new
           iPhones start shipping. Apple opened its second Apple Store
           in Thailand in Bangkok’s Central World. This will help Apple
           to build further on the already strong iPhone momentum in
           the country. With retail activity getting back to normal after

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the lockdown was lifted, the online/
offline shift is expected to get
back to normal as well after online
channel share peaked in 2Q20,”
says Teerit Paowan, Mobile Phone
Analyst, IDC Thailand.

Figure 1

Figure 1: Thailand Top 5
Smartphone Companies, 2Q20
Unit Market Shares

Thailand Smartphone Market,
Top 5 Company Shipments,
Market Share, and YoY

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Growth, Q2 2020 (shipments in
thousands)
Vendor
    2020Q2
         2020Q2
              2019Q22019Q2
                         YOY
    Shipments
         MarketShipments
                    MarketGrowth
         Share      Share
1.   853 19.5%750 15.6%13.8%
vivo
2.  811 18.6%1523 31.8%-46.7%
Samsung
3.  740 16.9%839 17.5%-11.9%
OPPO
4.   536 12.2%96         2.0% 456.4%
realme
5.    462 10.6%337 7.0% 37.0%
Apple
Others971 22.2%1249 26.1%-22.2%
Total 4373 100.0%
                4794 100.0%
                          -8.8%
Source: IDC Quarterly Mobile
Phone Tracker, 2020Q2
Note: All figures are rounded off

2020Q2 Top 5 Smartphone
Vendor Highlights:

• vivo made it to the top spot
focusing on its affordable Y series
with its low-end models Y11 and
Y15, while its newly launched
models in the mid-range Y30
and Y50 received a lukewarm
response.

• Samsung continued to be one of
the top players in the country with
its affordable Galaxy A series while
the higher priced Galaxy A71 was
amongst its top-selling models. It
did a lot of marketing activities and
launched campaigns such as “Edu
Buddy”, “Super-Hot Sales”, “Butler
to Go”..

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• OPPO lost the number 1 position
in 2Q20 as sales of some of its
newly launched models were
dampened due to temporary price
increases. OPPO maintained its
focus on marketing and channel
activities.

• realme replaced Huawei for the
fourth position. Its low-end models
performed well, and it also brought
X50 Pro supporting 5G. realme
continued to expand in upcountry
areas.

• Apple maintained 5th position
in the market due to the good
performance of iPhone SE amid
Covid-19 but the best performer
was still iPhone 11.

-Ends-

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For more information contact:
Teerit Paowan
tpaowan@idc.com
+6687 038 5336
Akash Tiwari
atiwari@idc.com
+662 009 4089

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