But specifically, there are also differences in the layout of these domestic mobile phone brands in Myanmar.
Huawei still has a high-end dream
After 2013, Huawei entered the Myanmar market strongly. As of early 2016, Huawei had been the number one mobile phone manufacturer by sales. According to local news reports from Frontier Myanmar, from the beginning of 2016, Xiaomi surpassed Huawei, which started in Shenzhen.
From 2016 to 2018, Huawei’s market share was gradually eroded by Xiaomi and OPPO; from 2018, Xiaomi’s sales champion has never been given to other brands.
When asked about the reasons behind Huawei’s decline, analyst Einstein believed that Huawei’s strategic positioning has always been a high-end brand.
He said: “For many years, Huawei has worked hard to stay away from the mass market. From Huawei’s new Mate 30 and Mate 40, we can see that they are competing with Samsung and Apple. And the Android system may also have big problems. Given that the Sino-US trade war continues, people who buy Huawei may not be able to use the Google series of products.”
Huawei Mate 30 Pro launch event in Myanmar
Xiaomi takes cost performance as a weapon
Huawei considers itself to be one of the largest smartphone suppliers in the Myanmar market. In fact, data in October this year showed that Xiaomi has led the Myanmar market with a share of more than 31%. In contrast, Huawei does not rank among the top five in mobile phone sales.
In the past, when Xiaomi was catching up with Apple, it usually set up specialty stores in luxury shopping malls in big cities like Yangon and Mandalay.Apples from California are much lower. In addition, Xiaomi’s sub-brand Redmi is also one of the most popular brands in Myanmar.
Fuliang Bai, President of Xiaomi’s Myanmar branch, said, “In Myanmar, cost-effectiveness is our most powerful weapon.” Redmi’s latest flagship mobile phone, Note 9Pro, only sells for 320,000 kyats in Myanmar.(approximately US$244), in contrast, Apple models that take the high-end route are priced at more than 1 million kyats(approximately US$672).
In 2019, Myanmar’s per capita GDP was only US$1,408, which dragged down other Southeast Asian countries-Vietnam US$2,715, Indonesia US$4136, and Thailand US$7808.
Myanmar’s lower level of disposable income makes people have lower demand for expensive high-end equipment, which is why Redmi products are so successful in the Myanmar market.
A clerk in a local mobile phone store in Yangon said: “Compared with other Chinese brands, Xiaomi is the most popular. It is cheap and has better lenses.”< /p>
In the minds of Myanmar consumers, the importance of the lens cannot be underestimated. As more and more people come into contact with smart phones and social networks, Burmese people suddenly rise in the trend of selfies, which makes lens quality one of the important selection criteria when people buy smart phones.
OPPO is the gospel for low-budget users
As Xiaomi’s leading position will not be threatened for the time being, it has only steadily expanded its market share in the past two years. But at the same time, another brand OPPO is also gaining momentum with its low-end line Realme.
Realme achieved a compound growth rate of 86% in the third quarter, thanks to its attracting to Myanmar consumers who have lower budgets and want good lenses. On the hottest e-commerce platform in Myanmar, Realme’s price starts at only 140,000 kyats (about 106 US dollars).
October data shows that OPPO currently has a market share of about 10%, and it focuses on the low-end smartphone market. Phoo Moh Moh, the 23-year-old local mobile phone salesperson in Yangon said, “From my sales experience, the quality of OPPO smartphones is not bad, and there are also high-pixel lenses.”
Second, the rural market is huge, but it is difficult to acquire customers
Although the current smartphone business in Myanmar is not the most profitable business opportunity in Southeast Asia, with the growth of its GDP, the size of the Myanmar smartphone market is expected to expand by 55% by 2022.
Most consumers live in cities, but the data in 2019 shows that Burmese living in cities accounted for only 30.8% of the total population, which means that in rural areas that cannot be reached by traditional sales methods There are many potential customers.
Rural users have low brand awareness of smart phones
The Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) in a report released in 2015 said that for urban customers in Myanmar, buy the latest smart Mobile phones may be a symbol of social status, but in addition to texting and making calls, rural mobile phone users rarely use the functions of smart phones that are superior to dumb phones.
When platforms such as Facebook and Viber emerged, some rural users realized that they had a demand for smart phones.
“According to the results of the qualitative questionnaire, most rural respondents have no brand awareness. If so, they only know Huawei. For them, touch screen phones may be necessary, but it doesn’t matter what brand.” GSMA report Wrote.
28-year-old Min Aung Thu comes from a small village in Yeu Township, Sagaing Province, and now works in Yangon. “Most people in the village now use smartphones, most of them are Chinese brands, and the price is between 100,000 and 200,000 kyats. (approximately 76 to 152 USD).”
Min Aung Thu said, For rural consumers, brand awareness has never been a differentiating factor.
“In my village, the internet connection is not a big problem. People communicate: “Chinese companies are also using their brand recognition to expand their customer base in Myanmar. In addition to smartphones, we also see the potential in TVs and related products. More and more Myanmar households have TVs.” /p>
Reference article: How China’s smartphone titans grew to dominate Myanmar’s fledging market
This article is from WeChat official account:Xiaguangshe (ID: Globalinsights) author: Eric Leah