HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese mobile phonemanufacturers face severe competition, and struggling to retain market share,from foreign players across segments, experts warn.

Samsung, for instance, does not just sell phones but hasbuilt an entire manufacturing eco-system comprising Republic of Korean andJapanese parts vendors.

There used to be dozens of Vietnamese brands, mainly in the lower-pricedsegments, but most were unable to survive.

According to retailers, seven or eight years ago was a good period for localbrands with a number of them such as Mobiistar, QMobile, Masstel, Hkphone, andBavapen in the market.

But within a few years many quietly left themarket, and only a few are left to take on a number of strong foreign brands.

Once popular with consumers, Mobile Star Corp’s Mobiistarthrew in the towel last year.

Since entering the market in 2009 there were times whenMobiistar was among the top five brands with its market share peaking at nearly10 percent.

In 2018 it expanded to India, becoming the first Vietnamesephone to go global on a large scale. But a year later Mobiistar had to quit theIndian market.

Asanzo and QMobile, which too had been fairly popular, alsogradually exited.

Masstel focuses on basic models costing as low as a fewhundred thousand đồng.

Bphone is at the other end of the spectrum, selling at pricesnot acceptable to a majority of consumers. The company plans to launch theBphone 4 with computational photography in what might be its last throw of thedice.

A sales manager of a Vietnamese mobile phone companyexplained that the market was too competitive in terms of price, especiallysince cheap Chinese phones were flooding it.

To take on the Chinese phones, Samsung has to offer a rangeof segments going down to as low as just 1.5 million VND.

Major retailers such as The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World), and FPT Shop hopedVinsmart, belonging to deep-pocketed Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, wouldfind a firm foothold in the market.

Vinsmart launched its first four Vsmart smartphones inDecember 2018 after it acquired the patents for them from Spanish technologyfirm BQ, in which it owns a 51 percent stake.

A Vsmart spokesperson said the local content in the company’s phones wouldincrease to 60 percent by this year, and Vinsmart expects to grab a 30 percentmarket share by this year.

The company has been launching many new models withpromotions. For example, late last year Vsmart Live was sold at discounts of upto 50 percent to gain market share.

Mobile phone distributors said Vinsmart was graduallyincreasing market share.

According to The Gioi Di Dong, in February Vsmart rankedthird in sales in the below-4 million VND segment due to its attractive prices.

Recently Viettel announced that it would make and sellattractive smartphones for just 1.5 million VND.

Viettel and Vingroup also announced they would collaborate tocreate an eco-system to enable production of cheap smartphones to take onChinese brands.

According to global market research company GfK, last yearsmartphones costing less than 3 million VND accounted for 20.4 percent of themarket share, equivalent to 2.99 million mobile phones.

On average, the total number of smartphones sold in Vietnamis around 14.4 million a year, which makes it a very attractive market formobile phone manufacturers, according to experts./.