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Thailand: Smartphone sales dip 12%
Smartphone sales in Thailand fell 12.1% in the first quarter with Xiaomi the only vendor recording year-on-year growth, according to global research firm Gartner.
Xiaomi stood at the forefront for Thai market share, while Huawei slipped out of the five top spots for sales, Gartner said.
In the first quarter, smartphone sales in Thailand posted 4.3 million units, a 12.1% drop from 4.8 million in the same period a year earlier.
Xiaomi’s market share was 16.2% in the first quarter, the pole position, up from 13% year-on-year.
Its sales grew to 691,000 units in the first quarter, up from 629,000 units in the same period a year earlier.
It was followed by Oppo, whose market share remained unchanged at 12.6%.
Vivo was in third place with a 12.5% market share, up from 10.5% in the same period last year. Standing fourth, Samsung made up 9.9% of the market, followed by Apple with 7.2%.
On a global level, all five vendors recorded a decline in the first quarter of 2020 except for Xiaomi. The sales of smartphones to end users declined 20.2% to 299 million units in the quarter.
“The coronavirus pandemic caused the global smartphone market to experience its worst decline ever,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner.
“Most of the leading Chinese manufacturers and Apple were severely impacted by the temporary closures of their factories in China and reduced consumer spending due to the global shelter-in-place rules,” he said.
Strong sales of Xiaomi’s Redmi devices in international markets and an aggressive online channel focus led Xiaomi to achieve better than expected sales.
Although Samsung’s smartphone sales declined 22.7% in the first quarter this year, it still maintained the No.1 spot with an 18.5% market share globally.
“Covid-19 negatively affected Samsung’s smartphone sales during the quarter. However, the decline could have been much worse,” said Mr Gupta.
“Its limited presence in China and the location of its manufacturing facilities outside of China prevented a steeper fall.”
Huawei recorded the worst performance among the top five global smartphone vendors in the first quarter, with a decline of 27.3%. However, Huawei held on to the No.2 position with a 14.2% market share.
“It developed the Huawei Mobile Service ecosystem, but with the lack of popular Google apps and Google Play store, Huawei is unlikely to attract new smartphone buyers in international markets,” he said.
Apple stood third globally with a 13.7% market share, followed by Xiaomi at 9.3% and Oppo with 8%.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1929076/smartphone-sales-dip-12-