Not only used iPhones, but Chinese smartphones designed only for the Chinese market have overflown the border line to take a share of the low-cost market segment. 

Chinese models for domestic consumption were unfamiliar to Vietnamese one or two years ago. Only a small number of products of this kind was brought to Vietnam and sold in dribs and drabs, and only high-end products were available at Vietnamese shops. 

But things are different in 2015. The year has seen the increased presence of Chinese low-cost products, from Xiaomi, Meizu to Lenovo, Nomi and LeTV recently.

An analyst commented that low-cost Chinese products would continue flowing to Vietnam in the time to come, when the year-end shopping season begins. Xiaomi has models Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, Mi 4i and Mi 4C, while Meizu has MX5, M2, M2 Note and LeTV has LeTV One X600 and LeTV One Pro X800.

The common characteristic of the products is that they are officially distributed in China only. 

Meizu MX5, with 5.5 inch Full HD screen, Helio X10 chip 2.2 GHz, RAM 3 GB and 20.7 megapixel camera, for example, is sold at VND6 million for the 16 GB version.

Meanwhile, LeTV One X600 with 2 GHz chip, 3 GB RAM and 5.5 inch Full HD and Antutu benchmark of approximately 50,000 is priced at VND3.9 million.

The owner of a privately run smartphone shop in Hanoi noted that the sales of the products have become better.

“Vietnamese are cautious about Chinese products because in their thoughts, Chinese technology is rubbish. However, low-income earners are satisfied with the products,” he noted.

There is also coverage of the products in the international market which makes the information about them easily accessible to Vietnamese youth.

While Chinese smartphones can easily conquer Vietnamese hearts thanks to the low prices, they may annoy consumers because of a series of problems. An information technology engineer said he bought a Lenovo product at about VND3 million, but he did to find out if there are any interesting things in a Chinese smartphone’.

“The biggest problem in the products of this kind is that there are no Google services installed. For Android users in Vietnam, incapability to access Google Play and Youtube app stores is unacceptable,” he said. 

“The problem can be settled by installing Vietnamized ROM versions, but this is really not an optimal solution,” he said.

“I will not recommend normal users, who are not engineers, to buy Chinese products, especially when they have bad reputation about the use of spy software,” he said.

NLD