The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on March 2 announced a program on popularizing smartphones to 100 percent of the population.
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The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on March 2 announced a program on popularizing smartphones to 100 percent of the population.
Under the program, mobile network operators, app developers and manufacturers will join forces in a subsidy project to lower prices of certain smartphones from the current $45-$50 to $20.
Super-cheap smartphone program brings golden opportunities to Vsmart
The ministry did not specify the brandnames of smartphones, network operators and apps. However, analysts have named the most suitable candidates for the program.
Vsmart is believed to be the most suitable smartphone brand, because it is cheap and has configuration stronger than Chinese products.
Vsmart Bee 3 launched in late 2019 has the quoted retail price of VND1.39 million, but it has a quad core chip and 2GB RAM. Many shops are still selling the first-generation Vsmart Bee below VND1 million.
Analysts believe that Vsmart will have products priced at VND1.2 million sooner or later.
Vsmart’s products are cheaper than Chinese ones and have stronger configuration. Vsmart Live and Vsmart Joy 3 both are equipped with mid-class Snapdragon chip, while Chinese rivals use low-class Snapdragon 4xx or Helio.
Vsmart Joy 3, launched recently, has three cameras, while Xiaomi and Realme only use a single camera.
Dau Tu newspaper reported that Vsmart phones have surpassed Apple in retail. revenue. According to the latest statistics from GfK, in January 2020, Vsmart brand of billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong held a 7.7 percent share of the smartphone market in the traditional retail segment. Meanwhile, Apple held 6.5 percent.
Analysts said other smartphone brands cannot sell products at VND1.2 million like Vsmart.
In late 2019, Mobiistar products disappeared from retail chains in Vietnam after many years of struggling to exist in the low-cost market segment. The website of the manufacturer has closed.
Prior to that, Mobiistar stated it would enter the Indian market. But in June 2019, it announced withdrawal from India.
Meanwhile, BKAV, the manufacturer of BPhone, does not intend to join the low-cost market segment.
BKAV invested VND1 trillion to manufacture smartphones but still could not make profit, said BKAV’s CEO Nguyen Tu Quang in March 2019. Analysts said there is no possibility of BKAV selling BPhone 4 at below VND5 million.
Vsmart said earlier this year that its smartphone factory with the capacity of 125 million products a year will be completed soon.
(Source: VNN)
