Thailand’s smartphone market bracing for double-digit slump

[webfact]

 

Thailand’s smartphone market is facing a potential double-digit contraction this year, as a result of the economic downturn and a decrease in consumer purchasing power in Q2 and Q3, according to M Vision Plc, an expo organiser, and mobile phone vendors. However, market prospects are predicted to improve in Q4, owing to the introduction of new flagship phones.

 

Opas Cherdpunt, the CEO of M Vision, who is organising the Thailand Mobile Expo 2023, attributed the market decline to weak economic conditions accompanied by a lack of significant technological changes, such as the adoption of flexible screens.

 

The four-day expo, which began yesterday, October 26, at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, is expected to generate 1 billion baht in transactions as producers promote their new models and provide discounts on existing ones to achieve year-end sales targets, Opas said.

“We see more Chinese brands coming into the market such as the IQOO brand under Vivo, while Oppo and Vivo tightened their budget in the past few years but returned to participate in the event this year.”

 

by Alex Morgan

Photo: Somchai Poomlard/Bangkok Post.

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-10-28

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[Emdog]

from my own limited experience, I'd say Thais would rather give up their mamas than their phones.

[retarius]

Good I'm thinking of buying. anew phone. I have both an old Samsung Android phone.....great phone great battery, but big.....and an iPhone, poor phone, poor volume control have to use speaker all the time, crappy battery that was changed about 8 months ago and will carry a FaceTime conversation for about 10 minutes before it's depleted and a tiny screen for my aged eyeballs. 

Wife has a recent iPhone whatever the number....and we use FaceTime a lot, but I seriously hate Apple for screwing workers in China, for degrading the environment, for paying no taxes etc etc I think they are the worst company on earth. 

I'd like to get a Linux phone if that is possible....does anyone know of a decent Linux OS phone in a mid price range say 25K?

[Burma Bill]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s smartphone market is facing a potential double-digit contraction this year,

 

Well I never - great!

 

For reference (2022) from a "dumb" ex-pat. I do not own a Smartphone, I still use my Samsung 3G mobile (which is ideal for me to make calls and text messages - none of this APP confusion). I have a personal computer at home.

 

..............is an anomaly among her peers - she doesn't have a smartphone.

Instead of scrolling through apps like TikTok and Instagram all day, she uses a so-called "dumbphone".

These are basic handsets, or feature phones, with very limited functionality compared to say an iPhone. You can typically only make and receive calls and SMS text messages. And, if you are lucky - listen to radio and take very basic photos, but definitely not connect to the internet or apps.................................Dumbphones are continuing to enjoy a revival. Google searches for them jumped by 89% between 2018 and 2021................. one report said that global purchases of dumbphones were due to hit one billion units last year, up from 400 million in 2019. This compares to worldwide sales of 1.4 billion smart phones last year, following a 12.5% decline in 2020.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60763168

 

[topt]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

I'd like to get a Linux phone if that is possible....does anyone know of a decent Linux OS phone in a mid price range say 25K?

See here for some views from Feb this year which mentions many of the contenders. I looked at this a while ago and there doesn't seem to be anything that is close to ideal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxhardware/comments/11ds4er/a_usable_linux_phone/?rdt=53729

 

The other potential issue is that I doubt you would be able to use many (if any) Thai banking apps.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

Good I'm thinking of buying. anew phone. I have both an old Samsung Android phone.....great phone great battery, but big.....and an iPhone, poor phone, poor volume control have to use speaker all the time, crappy battery that was changed about 8 months ago and will carry a FaceTime conversation for about 10 minutes before it's depleted and a tiny screen for my aged eyeballs. 

Wife has a recent iPhone whatever the number....and we use FaceTime a lot, but I seriously hate Apple for screwing workers in China, for degrading the environment, for paying no taxes etc etc I think they are the worst company on earth. 

I'd like to get a Linux phone if that is possible....does anyone know of a decent Linux OS phone in a mid price range say 25K?

Mid range 25k? You can get a good Android for less than 10k.

My Huawei Y9 is over 5 years old, all banking apps, Thai & UK work perfectly as does my IPTV app. 

[impulse]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

Mid range 25k? You can get a good Android for less than 10k.

My Huawei Y9 is over 5 years old, all banking apps, Thai & UK work perfectly as does my IPTV app. 

 

I think that's why smartphone sales are down.  Phones from 5+ years ago do everything you need, albeit maybe a little slower.  So why pop for a new one when money's tight like it's been since Covid?  Plus, Thailand's repair market is so much cheaper than "back home" where a battery replacement (including labor) can exceed the cost of a new phone.

I just bought a Samsung A05s in BKK for 5500 baht because my Moto X4 from back home (4+ years old) runs down the battery in less than a day and only holds one SIM.  I'd like to keep my USA SIM active for emergency calls from home and install a Thai tourist SIM for data while I'm in LOS, replacing it with a China SIM for data when I'm there.  Dual SIM, it seems to be an amazing phone for the $$$.  My challenge now is that Google Play is blocked here in China so I have to limp along until my next visa run to Thailand in a few weeks.  I'm a little concerned about how much convenience attaches to Google access.  I don't realize until I didn't have it...