VietNamNet Bridge – Sales of feature phones declined sharply last year though the number sold was still higher than that of smartphones, according to retailers.

Customers inspect cellphones at FPT Shop. Mobile phone retailers now focus on smartphones

Figures of The Gioi Di Dong Investment Joint Stock Company showed feature phones dropped 15% in revenue and 5% in volume compared to the previous years. This type of phone accounted for 35% of the total mobile phone sales volume but a mere 10% of revenues.

Earlier, market research company GfK Vietnam reported that feature phones made up 51% of the cellphones bought by customers in the third quarter of last year and smartphones took the rest, but their sales proportions were 13% and 87% respectively.

GfK estimated around 400,000 mobile phones were consumed a week in the January-September period last year, and the number for the entire year at 21 million products.

According to retailers, Nokia still dominated the feature phone segment while Samsung topped the smartphone segment last year. The Gioi Di Dong said Nokia accounted for 60% of the cellphones sold at its stores and the best-selling products were Nokia 105, 106 and 107.

Mobile phone retailer FPT Shop said the smartphones of medium and high categories sold well in the final months of last year as only two feature phone types, namely Nokia 105 and Nokia 225, were the 10 best-selling items in the period.

Mobile phone retail chains such as The Gioi Di Dong, Vien Thong A, Nguyen Kim, and FPT Shop are now focusing resources on capitalizing on strong demand for smartphones at their large shops and feature phones at small shops.

SGT