by Jared Heng
Southeast Asian consumer demand for smartphones jumped in the third quarter with the Android operating system (OS) taking the lead in popularity.
According to a study by market research company GfK, more than 4.7 million units of smartphones were sold in the region during the third quarter, up 9 per cent from the previous quarter and 120 per cent year-on-year.
In terms of corresponding value, nearly US$1.5 billion worth of the devices were sold during the period, up 6 per cent from the second quarter and 109 per cent from a year ago.
As the industry continues to boom, competition among the various smartphone operating systems intensified further with Android overtaking RIM OS to take the top spot in the region’s third-quarter unit sales.
“GfK Asia’s retail tracking reveals consistently healthy sales performance of Android phones ‒ the only smartphone OS which has been registering unwavering month-on-month growth over the last 12 months,” Benedict Hong, Regional Account Director for Telecommunications, said in a statement. “Compared to the third quarter a year ago, sales volumes of Android smartphones has grown exponentially by over 1,000 per cent!”
GfK noted that the share of sales volume for smartphones running on Android OS has been rising over the last two quarters to reach nearly 40 per cent, translating to two in every five smartphones sold being an Android phone.
Android OS, along with RIM OS and Symbian OS, make up the top three smartphone operating systems in Southeast Asia with a combined share of nearly 90 per cent.
In terms of individual Southeast Asian markets however, there were some variations in popularity of smartphone operating systems.
For example, in Southeast Asia’s biggest smartphone market of Indonesia, RIM OS has been leading by a substantial margin for at least the last five consecutive quarters, GfK said.
It also noted that Symbian OS remains the leading smartphone OS in Vietnam today.
Despite the differences, GfK said a particular trend is obvious across every country in the region ‒ the Android smartphone market is on a roll.
The number of Android smartphone models available in the market jumped to almost 170 in the third quarter, compared with just over 50 a year ago.
“With the ongoing engagement and partnership model between Google and major manufacturers, we can expect more innovative Android smartphones to swamp the marketplace; at least until there is another major breakthrough that can shake the dynamics of the smartphone OS industry,” Hong said.
