Apple bucks trend for declining phone sales in Southeast Asia: study

Overall smartphone shipments fell 13% in Q1 but iPhone rose 18% in the same period

Total smartphone shipments across five Southeast Asian nations went down 13% year on year in the first quarter due to rising inflation and slowing demand for brand new phones, an industry report by Counterpoint Research showed.

All five markets, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, saw lower shipments last quarter compared to the first three months of 2022, which Counterpoint traced to the rising inflation and the geopolitical issues faced by each country last year. It said the seasonal drop also hurt overall sales. 

Apple shipments went up 18% last quarter while the region’s other five major brands posted lower volumes. Despite the surge, iPhone’s share of the Southeast Asian market remained smaller at 7% when compared to its Chinese and Korean rivals.

Samsung shipments went down 16% though its market share was still the highest at 21% last quarter.

Oppo, which accounted for 20% of the market, recorded a 10% drop while Vivo shipments with a 14% market share fell the fastest with a 26% slump that quarter. 

By price range, mid-range models worth between $201 and $600 each recorded the steepest year-on-year drop last quarter while both entry-level phones worth less than $200 and premium phones costing over $600 still each rose 4% during the same period, according to the report.

“Mid-to-high-end smartphone buyers are holding on to their wallets and extending the ownership of their phones, while high-to-premium smartphone buyers are unaffected by the economics of the situation,” said Glen Cardoza, senior analyst at the research firm.

Cardoza expects overall consumer sentiment to improve in the coming months.