VietNamNet Bridge – High grade mobile models such as HTC One X or Sony Xperia S have seen their values halved just one year after they hit the market.

Quang in Ha Dong district in Hanoi wants a new-generation mobile phone set to replace the One X in use. He decided to sell the One X, hoping to get some money which, together with the money he has saved over the last year, would be enough to buy an HTC One.

However, he was shocked when the owner of the shop only accepted to pay VND5 million for the One X, nearly brand new. When he came to another shop, he was told that the phone was valued at no more than VND5.5 million. Quang is still wavering between selling or keeping the mobile phone, because the selling price is just equal to 50 percent of the price at which he bought one year ago.

Quang once tried to post an ad piece on some websites, but no one has accepted to pay more than VND7 million.

“I bought the One X at VND16.5 million last April. And now I am told that the product is valued at VND7 million only,” he complained.

In principle, high technology products always see the prices drop sharply because of the appearance of new models every day. However, analysts have noted that Android mobile phone models always see the sharpest price decreases, sharper than iPhone models.

Thuan, the owner of a mobile phone shop on Kim Ma Street in Hanoi, said medium and high class models usually decrease in prices when the other new product hit the market, no matter how long the previous-generation product have been available on the market.

Thuan also said that the previous-generation smart phones running on Android operation system have been selling very slowly. In principle, customers are always advised to choose a new medium-class Android model instead of previous-generation model. New products have strong configuration, while they have been updated with new technologies.

Last summer’s models including Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X, Sony Xperia S all now have the selling price of less than VND10 million, while they were priced at over VND15 million at the moments when they first turned up in the market. Especially, One X and Xperia S have been no more available at some mobile shops.

Nguyen Anh Van, the owner of CellphoneS shop, said he only keeps selling the models which are still in high demand.

“It’s true that Android mobile phones have the prices going down very rapidly. HTC One X, the highest grade of HTC, was once valued at over VND16 million, but it is selling at VND7 million only. If you have used HTC One X for sale, I would buy it at VND5 million,” he said.

Xperia S of Sony is facing the same fate. According to Van, Android products’ prices would decrease by 40-50 percent a year.

“Xperia Z, which was once priced at VND16-18 million, I bet that it is can be sold at no higher than VND10 million now,” Van said, citing a lot of other models in the same situations, namely Sony’s products (Xperia T, TX or V). Especially, Xperia TX and V have seen the prices drop from VND13 million in January to VND10 million, just within 4 months.

Infonet