VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam consumed 5.8 million cellphones in the second quarter, most of them smartphones, according to market research firm IDC.

IDC’s quarterly report on Vietnam’s phone market indicated that smartphones accounted for 32.7% of the total cellphone sales volume in the past quarter, up from the 14.7% recorded in the same quarter last year.

IDC said that although the Vietnamese phone market in the past quarter was affected by a series of high-end smartphones sold here, it was budget smartphones which attracted the attention of buyers and made the market active.

In terms of operating systems, Windows Phone 8 was selling well in the local market with a growth rate of 119% in the second quarter over the preceding quarter. Windows Phone saw its market share rising from 6% in the second quarter last year to 15%, which was contributed by Nokia smartphones and Microsoft efforts to get local developers involved in expanding this operating system.

However, in spite of such growth, Android was still the leading operating system with market share of 81.3% in the second quarter.

Vo Le Tam Thanh, a market analyst at IDC Vietnam, said local brands like Q-Mobile and Mobiistar were playing an important role in boosting growth and demand of smartphones in both urban and rural areas, especially those priced at less than US$100 million.

Source: SGT