Chinese cell phone brands may dominate Vietnam market

[Mr Second Back]

actually there are smartphones designed from south east asians instead chinese but its for a russian company called vobis who has a smartphone brand called highscreen

President Putin uses a ZTE, doesnt he?

 

[Battle of Bach Dang River]

15 new Asian smartphone makers hoping to crush Samsung and Apple

 

[Mr Second Back]

15 new Asian smartphone makers hoping to crush Samsung and

A good operation system is much more important than a phone itself. Apple knows that.

 

[Sourya Kharb]

Easy, I know TATA auto is from India^^
Just a smartphone, everybody buy it according to the self situation...Using a high price smartphone can tell other you are high postion? Silly! Personally support Xperia^^

Yeah you are right, Actually i am a fan of Apple and HTC because of Design and Quality

 

[mike2000]

Well, Chinese smartphones are definitely getting better by the year. Considering the fact that they were nowhere to be seen in the top 5-7 years ago. But surprisingly the most notable Chinese smartphone brand i have seen in almost every shop in go to in London/U.K is Huawei . Haven't seen any so called Xiaomi, Lenovo (except in Laptop and PCS of course), Coolpad, Oppo etc, Didn't even know these names(bar lenovo of course) until saw/read this thread. ZTE has got some phones here as well though they are not as popular/common as huawei. But overall ill say so far its only Huawei smartphones that i have seen and even bought one in the past(which was quite good for its price) and my junior sister uses Huawei Ascend P6. I didn't even know it was a Chinese company until recently. lol. But overall, it will take a while/long time before Chinese smartphones can match Apple and Samsung in brand awareness. Note that in today's world, brand is more important than even the product, most companies sell alot because of the brand image they have. Personally i think Samsung is overrated. HTC and Apple are my favorites. But i wont be surprise though if Chinese smartphones dominate the developing world/countries market. Considering the price and the relatively good quality of the phones they are bound to dominate in developing countries. wont be a surprise.
Overall i think India is the only other country who may have the ability to compete with China in this sector, both in terms of price, quantity and quality of the phones. surprisingly haven't seen any Indian phone. Will be good to see one soon, and how it will fare in the world, because competition is always good for the market/consumers. most of the big smartphones company overcharge us for their products. getting sick of it.
Also im surprise to see that there is so much animosity between some Chinese and Vietnamese members on here. Is there a particular reason for that? I thought they are both communist countries(well officially. lol)? Surprised because almsot all the Chinese i know here are rather quite humble, calm, level headed and hard working even when they are provoked. kind of similar to some of my Vietnamese friends as well.

 

[rott]

Global smartphone shipments up to nearly 277 million units in 1Q14, says TrendForce
Press release, April 18; Alex Wolfgram, DIGITIMES [Friday 18 April 2014]
Global smartphone shipments rose 1.13% on quarter to 266.9 million units in the first quarter of 2014, and are expected to climb another 6.7% to 284.5 million units in the following quarter, according to TrendForce.

Samsung Electronics managed to claim first place with a worldwide market share of over 30% in the first quarter due to its low to mid-range smartphone shipments. Apple's new iPhones and shipment momentum are not expected to appear until the second half of 2014, hence the company experienced a noticeable decline in its worldwide market share and finished in second, the firm said.

China-based smartphone vendors showed better-than-expected performances compared to traditionally strong global brands, with companies such as Huawei Device, Lenovo (excluding contributions from Motorola), and Xiaomi all experiencing quarterly growth of more than 20%.

OPPO R1S 至美4G手机 白色
Can't copy the contents, I had to post the link.

 

[rott]

@mike2000, I can definitely tell you the companies which can and will compete with the top brands.
1. Xiaomi (Hugo Barra Ex VP of Google) an employee.
2. Oppo (Will compete with the best in terms of built quality and specs) Trust me on this.
3. Huawei (Mid high level phones)
4. Lenovo (Not too sure but possible, haven't seen a good phone after the K900)

 

[rott]

Not sure if I have posted this commercial for the Indian members.

@Skull and Bones, @JayMandan

 

[Edison Chen]

Samsung is trash, I used to have a S3, low quality, when you have it in your hand, you can feel it as trash. Its 8 Mpixel camera is worse than Nokia 3.2 M pixel camera, Samsung phone's assembled components come from all the world, there is no Samsung's core technology here. They just enter this industry early, nothing special.

 

[mike2000]

@mike2000, I can definitely tell you the companies which can and will compete with the top brands.
1. Xiaomi (Hugo Barra Ex VP of Google) an employee.
2. Oppo (Will compete with the best in terms of built quality and specs) Trust me on this.
3. Huawei (Mid high level phones)
4. Lenovo (Not too sure but possible, haven't seen a good phone after the K900)

well maybe , though we cant predict the future. But so far from what i have seen here in U.K and some European countries i have traveled to, the only Chinese smartphone i have seen is Huawei (and sometimes ZTE though its mostly low end phones). So not so sure about the other companies you have mentioned, since they are non existent here and it takes quite a time for a brand to establish itself/gain awareness. The only company you mentiones above who i think has a credible chance of making it is Lenovo, since they already have a quite good/popular Brand Image here(from their Pcs ,laptops and now Tablets), coupled with their acquisition of Motorola and most of all the fact that a already have a sophisticated/establish world sales and distribution channel/outlets, which the other vendors you have mentioned don't have. So i'm quite pessimistic about that. IMO
But you never know, i might be wrong. so we have to wait and see.

 

[rott]

well maybe , though we cant predict the future. But so far from what i have seen here in U.K and some European countries i have traveled to, the only Chinese smartphone i have seen is Huawei (and sometimes ZTE though its mostly low end phones). So not so sure about the other companies you have mentioned, since they are non existent here and it takes quite a time for a brand to establish itself/gain awareness. The only company you mentiones above who i think has a credible chance of making it is Lenovo, since they already have a quite good/popular Brand Image here(from their Pcs ,laptops and now Tablets), coupled with their acquisition of Motorola and most of all the fact that a already have a sophisticated/establish world sales and distribution channel/outlets, which the other vendors you have mentioned don't have. So i'm quite pessimistic about that. IMO
But you never know, i might be wrong. so we have to wait and see.

Agreed. We shall wait and watch.

 

[BoQ77]

A good operation system is much more important than a phone itself. Apple knows that.

I remember you like Sony Xperia right ?
Agree ,, a good OS with much care of developers better

President Putin uses a ZTE, doesnt he?

As we know, Putin rarely use cellular phone for security... Everyone ever laught at him to use a ugly phone 1 time.

You look like us, you use our names, your women jump the border to marry us, we dominate your market.

Yup. We influence you alright. Have been since you crawled out of our sperm.

Sorry my inferior Viet slave, but you are part of the greater Chinese civilisation

If you keep saying those silly words from this thread to that thread ... why must create many thread for argueing ????

Your argument could be understood as "Vietnamese is Chinese ... so what's "your women" ?... based on your logic then it would be "Chinese women marry Chinese men" ...

Btw, you confused us by assigning Chinese brand phones a high rank and blame us to downgrade Chinese brand phones ... while the real fact is reversed, "The Chinese brand phones in low grade and we cannot give them the high rank ..."

For example : No one in Vietnam is ready to pay $300-400 for any Chinese brand phones ... with those amount, they have many other choices by themselves ... Likely, Chinese brand phones are at the lowest price level while offer the highest specification ( to lure buyers with Mediatek chips, high pixel camera, instead of Snapdragon chips )

 

[BoQ77]

MediaTek’s chips transforming China’s smartphone market
By Lin Yang / NY Times News Service, TAIPEI
In China’s smartphone market, Apple has seen better days.

Despite having reported record sales of the iPhone 5, Apple’s presence in China flagged last year. It was pushed out of the top five smartphone makers in that market in the third quarter, with just 8 percent of the market, according to the research company Canalys.

As Coolpad, Huawei (華為), Lenovo (聯想), Samsung and ZTE (中興通訊) surged ahead of Apple, an important force behind their success was MediaTek (聯發科), a Taiwanese chipmaker whose products have greatly reduced what it costs manufacturers to get new phones to market.

MediaTek entered the smartphone business late, introducing its first chipset in 2011 in a Lenovo phone, but within 18 months, it has taken 50 percent of China’s market for smartphone chips, analysts say.

That success has come with the adoption of what MediaTek calls a “turnkey solution.” Rather than simply provide a chip, the company also offers instructions for building a phone, the software architecture to run it and dedicated consultants to advise phone makers during the production process. MediaTek chief financial officer David Ku (顧大為) describes this as a franchise model in which all the clients must do is “turn on the burner.”

Peter Liao, an analyst at Nomura Securities who covers the industry, said MediaTek saved phone makers the often prohibitive cost of research and development.

“It typically takes a lot of money and time to develop a new handset model, but MediaTek comes in and provides a total solution,” Liao said.

The company has proved wildly popular among Chinese phone makers. Besides supplying Huawei, Lenovo and ZTE, MediaTek also supports lesser-known manufacturers, including those that make “bandit phones” that imitate premium models from Apple, Samsung and HTC.

TCL Communication Technology Holdings (TCL通訊), a Chinese phone maker that sells phones primarily in Europe and Latin America, uses MediaTek’s chips. TCL chief operating officer Wang Jiyang said that when the company worked with MediaTek, its only important design tasks were to make the software easier to use and to tailor the look and feel of the phone.

“In general, with MediaTek’s help, we’re able to achieve almost twice as fast time to market, compared to other solutions,” Wang said.

MediaTek was founded in 1997. It made chips for home entertainment electronics like DVD players and televisions before moving into components for CD and DVD-ROM devices. In 2004, it began making chips for small mobile phones.

MediaTek estimated that it ranked at the top of the Chinese market last year with sales of 110 million smartphone chips, up from 10 million chips the previous year.

By comparison, Qualcomm, the global leader in smartphone chips, was expected to finish in second place in China with 82 million chips shipped, according to the research firm DigiTimes.

MediaTek has been powered by consumers like Zhang Ying, 31, who want to try the latest technology, but not pay a premium for it. Zhang of Shanghai bought a knockoff HTC (宏達電) phone last year.

“Every person has a price point,” he said. “At a time when some of my friends were buying Samsung or iPhone, I wanted to show that I can keep up with them. A lot of domestic phones are cheap and of fairly good quality.”

----------------------------------
January 23, 2014 12:00 am JST
Taiwan's MediaTek riding high on the back of cheap smartphones

MediaTek's Xinzhu city headquarters is at the heart of the "Silicon Valley of Taiwan."

TAIPEI -- As smartphones become ubiquitous in Asia, consumers are embracing inexpensive models, some priced as low as $100.

Prices have come down quickly, thanks in no small part to MediaTek, a Taiwanese chipmaker. MediaTek has had great success selling cheaply both the semiconductors that go into handsets and entire smartphone designs. This has enabled the rise of consumer electronics companies offering cheaper smartphones.

MediaTek President Hsieh Ching-jiang on Jan. 6 flew from Taipei to Las Vegas to meet with senior Google executives one day before the opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show. They discussed Google's operating system for cars, which the information technology giant is developing in partnership with Honda Motor, Audi, General Motors and Hyundai. The key to success, Hsieh said, is to combine safety and convenience.

Hsieh Ching-jiang, president of MediaTek

Before his returning home Jan. 10, Hsieh powered through meetings with top officials from 30 global IT firms, including Sony, Samsung Electronics of South Korea and China's Lenovo. Hsieh said he was at the event to find the next big thing after smartphones.

MediaTek is a "fabless" semiconductor maker specializing in chip design but leaving production to others. The company focuses on chips for smartphones that handle various functions, including image and data processing as well as communications. Its shipments in 2013 jumped 80% compared with the previous year in volume terms to more than 200 million units.

It also held a 47% share in the Chinese market last year, up 14 percentage points from 2012 and outstripping its rival Qualcomm of the U.S., the world's largest maker of chips for mobile devices. That helped push MediaTek's sales 37% higher compared with the previous year to a record 136 billion New Taiwan dollars ($4.52 billion).

Cheap and cheerful

The company's rapid ascent stems from the growing popularity of inexpensive smartphones across Asia. Global smartphone shipments were estimated at about 960 million units in 2013, according to a U.S. research company. Of these, one in three costs $200 or less. These cheaper models are widely expected to overtake higher-end handsets, such as Apple's $400-plus iPhone, in 2015.

MediaTek's strengths lie in its skill in making cheap, user-friendly products, according to an executive at major Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE. The Taiwanese company's chips cost 30-50% less than Qualcomm's. It also sells "reference" or basic designs for smartphones to other manufacturers, a business model that is attractive to its partners. Its competitors are following suit, but MediaTek is ahead of the pack.

Not only does the company provide instructions on the layout of components and wiring in its reference designs, it also compiles a list of recommended parts and their manufacturers as well as giving detailed information on operating systems and development tools. This approach has enabled it to gain the upper hand along the entire product development chain from design to parts procurement. In effect, MediaTek outsources production to device makers while retaining many profitable parts of the process for itself. It now finds itself at the top of the pyramid rather than on the bottom, where component makers found themselves when conventional handsets were dominant.

Package deal

To see this reversal of fortune in practice, look no further than the salesperson at one Japanese component maker. The company, which makes parts that cancel electrical noise, is working hard to meet MediaTek's exacting standards. The Taiwanese company now performs some of the tasks the device makers used to do for themselves. This ensures the various components work together optimally and allows it to recommend those components to its customers.

Its next big target is onboard systems for "smart cars." At present, Japanese manufacturers such as Renesas Electronics and Panasonic are leaders in this field. But MediaTek has started developing chips for image and sound processing with a view toward becoming a key supplier to automakers. It has created a subsidiary in China's southern Guangdong Province and has begun sales and marketing activity aimed at auto manufacturers from around the world.

Hsieh believes cars and smartphones will become increasingly connected. He expects MediaTek to play a major role in that collaboration.

(Nikkei)

 

[Edison Chen]

Vietnam mobile phone market raped so hard by foreign brands

 

[BoQ77]

Vietnam mobile phone market raped so hard by foreign brands

almost Made in Vietnam .. and Made in Vietnam exported to global too ..

Samsung moves factories from China to Vietnam
BOTTOM LINE:To protect profits as labor costs rise in China, the firm is looking to Vietnam, with one analyst saying it may make 80% of its phones there some day
Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics Co built the world’s largest smartphone business by tapping China’s cheap and abundant workforce, but is now shifting output to Vietnam to secure even lower wages and defend profit margins as growth in sales of high-end handsets slows.

By the time a new US$2 billion plant reaches full production in 2015, China’s communist neighbor will be making more than 40 percent of the phones that generate the majority of Samsung’s operating profit.

The Suwon, South Korea-based company’s second handset factory in Vietnam is due to begin operations in February, according to a Nov. 22 statement posted on the Web site of the local government where the plant is located.

“The trend of companies shifting to Vietnam from China will likely accelerate for at least two to three years, largely because of China’s higher labor costs,” said Lee Jung-soon, who leads a business incubation team of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency in Ho Chi Minh City. “Vietnam is really aggressive in fostering industries now.”

Hanoi has approved US$13.8 billion of new foreign projects this year through Nov. 20, a 73 percent increase on a year earlier, according to the General Statistics Office in Hanoi. Of this, South Korea led with US$3.66 billion.

Intel Corp, the world’s largest chipmaker, opened a US$1 billion assembly and testing plant in Ho Chi Minh City in 2010. Nokia Oyj said its facility near Hanoi producing Asha smartphones and feature handsets became fully operational in the third quarter.

LG Electronics Inc is building a new 400,000m2 complex to make televisions and appliances as part of a US$1.5 billion investment plan.

“The country is politically stable and has a young, increasingly well-educated workforce,” LG said in an e-mailed statement. “Like [South] Korea, Vietnam understands what it takes to rebuild an economy after a devastating war.”

Samsung’s new plant is expected to make 120 million handsets a year by 2015, said two people familiar with the company’s plans, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. That would double the current output from the country and compares with the 400 million global total Samsung shipped last year.

With about one-third of the global smartphone market, Samsung may eventually produce as many as 80 percent of its handsets in Vietnam, said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at IBK Securities Co in Seoul who has been tracking the company for more than a decade.