Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, June 29, 2012 – According to IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Vietnam’s mobile phone shipments declined 15% sequentially in 1Q12. Economic difficulties and weakened purchasing power after the Lunar New Year holidays significantly impacted Vietnam’s mobile phone shipments this quarter, and made it difficult for the market to sustain its growth momentum.

Feature phone shipments declined 14% sequentially, as a number of Vietnamese and Chinese vendors struggled to cope with competition. "A number of local and Chinese vendor have exited the market, and we expect more to leave the market in 2012 as they struggle to recoup investments under current conditions", says Võ Lê Tâm Thanh, Senior Market Analyst for Client Devices Research at IDC Vietnam.

The smartphone market also declined 21% sequentially as only a few Android phone vendors continued to perform well. "The Android platform has grabbed 79% share of the Vietnam smartphone market and currently enjoys dominance. Its popularity was boosted by a number of affordable products from various vendors and was helped by the marketing efforts of Samsung and HTC," adds Thanh. "While Android devices have performed well in Vietnam, the popularity of Windows Phone shipments is not so widespread, as prices are still not as competitive as Android handsets and there remains a need for more local apps."

Top Three Mobile Phone Vendors in Vietnam in 1Q12

• Nokia finished the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12) as the overall leader among the mobile phone vendors, accounting for more than half of all mobile phone shipments in Vietnam. Nokia continues to be successful with its dual-SIM and low-cost phones such as the 101, C2-00, X1-01 and 1280. Its success in this area has made is difficult for smaller vendors to be competitive in the market.
• Although Samsung remains the leader in Vietnam's smartphone market based on strong performances from its low-cost smartphone range including the Galaxy Y and Galaxy Mini. However, its total mobile phone shipment, which includes both feature phones and smartphones, still lags far behind Nokia.
• LG held on to third place in 1Q12 despite a decline in shipments.

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