Sales of smartphones on the domestic market grew strongly last year, especially in December, the Saigon Times Daily quoted industry players as saying.

Ngo Nguyen Kha, Managing Director of MobiiStar, cited figures from market researcher GfK to put the amount of mobile phones sold in 2013 at 17 million units, with smartphones accounting for 40 percent at 7 million units and 80 percent of the market value last year.

He did not give the specific growth rate for the whole 2013, but said sales in June 2013 more than doubled the year-earlier figure, from over 192,000 to 484,000 units. Last December, the sales jumped to 800,000 units, almost doubling the figure six months earlier, he said.

“This is stunning growth, and smartphones have become the most attractive segment,” he said, attributing the steep rise to the trend of people preferring smart phones to feature phones, and predicted the growth trend would continue this year.

Nguyen Quang Minh, General Director of Q-Mobile, said the rapid expansion of the smartphone segment would offer good opportunities for manufacturers and retailers despite the stiff competition in this segment.
 
Minh said those manufacturers of phones with nice designs, good configurations, and affordable prices would win in the race.

Manufacturers and retailers say that smartphones priced between 1.5 million VND and 5 million VND (70-240 USD) a unit sell better on the domestic market.-VNA