VietNamNet Bridge - Samsung is competing with Apple in the high-end market segment, holding the advantage over Oppo in the mid-end market segment, and crushing all efforts of the rest.


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The 10 best sellers

Samsung has long been the No 1 smartphone manufacturer in Vietnam, but never before has its dominance been as absolute as it is now. Analysts commented that the giant is alone battling the remaining 30 mobile manufacturers.

According to the two largest retail chains, Samsung had four products listed among 10 best sellers in the first six months of the year, namely Galaxy J7 Prime, J5 Prime, J2 Prime and Galaxy A5 2017. Of these, Galaxy J7 Prime topped the list, while the other two were among the top 4.

Samsung has long been the No 1 smartphone manufacturer in Vietnam, but never before has its dominance been as absolute as it is now. Analysts commented that the giant is alone battling the remaining 30 mobile manufacturers.

In the last three years, Oppo has been following a strategy on launching smartphone models with reasonable selling prices and eye-catching designs, and impressive selfie cameras such as Neo 3, Neo 5, F1, F1s and F3. 

The manufacturer has been using images of celebrities in ad campaigns on TV to boost sales. This allowed Oppo’s market share to go from nearly zero to 20 percent within several years and made it the second largest manufacturer in Vietnam.

A representative of a retail chain noted Samsung’s ‘one versus one’ strategy in 2016 when the firm realized the ‘Oppo danger’. 

When Oppo marketed F1s product priced at VND6 million, Samsung immediately launched J7 Prime priced at VND6.3 million. Later, Oppo produced A39 and Samsung immediately introduced Galaxy J5 Prime.

In other words, analysts said, it was the strong rise of Oppo which prompted Samsung to make heavy investment to develop mid-end products. 

It has never been easy for any manufacturer to confront Samsung. Oppo remains the biggest rival of Samsung in terms of mid-end products, but it now feels pressure from the South Korean manufacturer. 

While the F3 model marketed last year does not have satisfactory sales, Samsung’s Galaxy J7 Pro hit a record 40,000 products sold in one sales campaign.

Even Oppo has difficulties in competing with Samsung. In 2016, Vivo once showed its strong determination to conquer the market with V5 and V5 Plus priced at VND6-7 million, as well as Huawei with GR5. However, they could not make it happen.

However, analysts pointed out that Samsung still does not have an advantage over Apple’s iPhone in the high-end market segment.


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