• News
• Events

Smartphone Drives Good Performance of the Overall Mobile Phone Industry in Quarter One with 30 Percent Growth over Previous Quarter: GfK Asia

Android smartphones surge in popularity

Findings from GfK Asia showed that although sales of feature phones made up more than four-fifths of the total mobile phones volume sold, growth of the industry was largely driven by the increasing adoption of smartphones which sold over 3.4 million units—reflecting a 30 percent jump compared to the last quarter of 2010.  

"Despite its six percent growth in sales volume, sales value of feature phones in quarter one reported a dip of three percent over the previous quarter, largely attributed to price erosion,” noted Mr. Gerard Tan, Regional Account Director for Telecommunications at GfK Asia. "On the other hand, smartphone sales continue to escalate, hitting close to USD1.47 billion and achieving 22 percent growth during this same period of time.”

Over 800,000 more units of smartphones were sold during the first three months this year compared to the October to December period. In particular, smartphones on the Android operating system (OS) saw an exponential growth of 77 percent in volume sales over the previous quarter.

"Major manufacturers have been embracing the Android OS for their smartphones in recent times, thereby significantly increasing the variety of Android smartphone offerings to consumers in the markets,” commented Mr. Tan. "At the same time, it helps that Android smartphones have become increasingly appealing to consumers due to its user friendly interface and wide range of applications available.”

It is interesting to note that the Android smartphones have gained much popularity in recent months, spurring an Android smartphone model to climb the list of Southeast Asia’s top 10 smartphones models in quarter one of 2011 when none had ever made it onto this list previously.

"As the popularity of smartphones continues to soar, consumers can expect to find a wider range of more affordable smartphone models in the market as competition intensifies among the industry players,” said Mr. Tan. "There are still lots of unexplored territories and definitely plenty more room for the smartphone industry to develop further. The continued proliferation of smartphones will spur aggressive consumer adoption, and this will keep on driving the mobile phone market in the next one year or so,” he concluded.

About GfK Asia Pte Ltd

A part of the global GfK Group, GfK Asia has over 25 years of experience providing reliable retail and technology market data in Asia. Our analysts track a broad range of consumer products, including technical consumer equipment, optics, automotive, and gaming software.  GfK Asia covers more than 160 products and over 918,000 models, collecting monthly data from over 8,000 specialist / independent shops as well as over 560 organized retailers with approximately 15,000 outlets. Based in Singapore, GfK Asia offers extensive coverage of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, The Philippines, and India.

 

The GfK Group

The GfK Group offers the fundamental knowledge that industry, retailers, services companies and the media need to make market decisions. It delivers a comprehensive range of information and consultancy services in the three business sectors Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The No. 4 market research organization worldwide operates in more than 100 countries and employs over 10,000 staff. In 2010, the GfK Group’s sales amounted to EUR 1.29 billion. For further information, visit our website: www.gfk.com. Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gfk_group.

 

Note:

- Survey covers 6 key markets in Southeast Asia—Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.

-  Quarterly comparison: Q1 2011 (Jan – Mar 2011) vs Q4 2010 (Oct-Dec 2010)