Chinese smartphone brands continue to grow in Bangladesh and now capture 29 percent of the market, up from 13 percent a year ago, according to Counterpoint Research. In Q3 2017, Chinese smartphone brands grew 125 percent year-on-year in the South Asian nation.
“Chinese brands have been aggressively expanding in the Bangladesh smartphone market with low-cost offerings. Major Chinese brands like Huawei, iTel, Xiaomi and OPPO have already started to make their presence felt by grabbing market share from local brands,” said Shobhit Srivastava, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research.
“The expected launch of 4G services in January 2018 will further add to the advantage of the Chinese brands, as they offer budget 4G smartphones with good specs,” Srivastava added. “Local brands like Symphony, Walton and Winmax will have to quickly adapt to the change in the market if they want to maintain share.”
Symphony Mobile remained the number one handset player in Bangladesh with 26 percent market share, but its sales declined 24 percent annually and 19 percent sequentially owing to tough competition from players like iTel and Nokia.
Samsung was able to maintain its second position in the smartphone segment with 14 percent market share. Its sales nevertheless declined 3 percent compared to Q3 2016. Its Galaxy J2 model was the number one smartphone sold in the country during the quarter thanks to strong promotions.
Huawei clinched the third spot in the smartphone segment with 8.5 percent market share in the quarter. Its low-cost Y series smartphones helped the brand stay relevant to Bangladeshi consumers. Walton was the only other Bangladesh brand to be featured in the top five smartphone brands list, achieving 8.3 percent market share.
iTel, another Chinese brand, has been aggressively expanding its presence in Bangladesh smartphone market with its low cost mobile phone offerings. The brand at number five captured 6.9 percent share of the Bangladesh smartphone market.
The Bangladesh mobile handset market grew 19 percent annually and 1 percent sequentially. Smartphone growth slowed during the quarter growing by just 3 percent annually. Smartphone shipments contributed to 24 percent of the total mobile phone shipments, signaling a slow but steady adoption of smartphones.
