iPhone not hit by Southeast Asia's collapsing smartphone market

New research claims that while total smartphone shipments dropped dramatically in Southeast Asia during the third calendar quarter of 2022, Apple's iPhone saw a 63% increase year over year.

In 2019, Apple was seeing competition in the Southeast Asia market from smartphones that were nearly always considerably cheaper than the iPhone. Today with economic pressures meaning the market dropped 10% in Q3 2022, however, Apple has continued to see a significant rise.

According to Counterpoint Research, economic uncertainty across the region is responsible for the lower than expected sales. That drop is chiefly in the phones that cost $200 or lower, though, while those premium models at $400 or greater, have done better.

Shipments of lower cost smartphones dropped 24% YOY, while premium models rose 29% over the same period.

Source: Counterpoint Research

"There were some brand-level hits and misses too in Q3 2022," writes Counterpoint Research. "While Samsung shipments fell 13% YoY, Apple's shipments were up 63% YoY across all the key countries."

Counterpoint notes that Vietnam appears to be "grabbing iPhones at a faster rate than its neighbours." Buyers in Thailand and the Philippines have reportedly been drawn to 5G, but a lack of 5G coverage means demand is softer in Vietnam and Indonesia.

The research company expects that lower than predicted sales means that manufacturers will have inventory of older smartphones. Counterpoint says it expects to see incentives such as more trade-in offers.

8 Comments

lkrupp 19 Years · 10521 comments

About 2 years ago

Simple economics. People who can afford premium products like the iPhone are less likely to be affected by downturns in the economy. Since the bulk of Samsung’s sales are in the low-end sector they got creamed, something the ‘yeah-but’ crowds ignores. Yet another reason Apple has chosen to stay out of the low-end market, and with good reason.

Madbum 2 Years · 536 comments

lkrupp said:

Simple economics. People who can afford premium products like the iPhone are less likely to be affected by downturns in the economy. Since the bulk of Samsung’s sales are in the low-end sector they got creamed, something the ‘yeah-but’ crowds ignores. Yet another reason Apple has chosen to stay out of the low-end market, and with good reason.

Very well said.

I will also just add in economy like this , especially lock downs in China. When people are isolated, what comes next after food? A connection with outside with your smart phone.

and judging by the numbers, people are cutting in other areas but spending on their favorite mobile device, Apple

danox 11 Years · 3445 comments

Madbum said:

lkrupp said:

Simple economics. People who can afford premium products like the iPhone are less likely to be affected by downturns in the economy. Since the bulk of Samsung’s sales are in the low-end sector they got creamed, something the ‘yeah-but’ crowds ignores. Yet another reason Apple has chosen to stay out of the low-end market, and with good reason.

Very well said.

I will also just add in economy like this , especially lock downs in China. When people are isolated, what comes next after food? A connection with outside with your smart phone.

and judging by the numbers, people are cutting in other areas but spending on their favorite mobile device, Apple

In many area’s the smartphone and small iPad/Tablet are the computers of choice. No different than using a small motorize bike instead of a car. (third world everywhere, the Chinese/Japanese companies are cleaning up in that particular market).

waveparticle 3 Years · 1497 comments

In the near term, US preventing China from developing/using advanced chips will dampen the enthusiasm of Chinese toward smartphones. The remnant effect of this decrease of passion will reduce Chinese smartphone makers in developing new smartphones. Because they see there is no future to match Apple iPhones. Why bother?

avon b7 20 Years · 8046 comments

waveparticle said:

In the near term, US preventing China from developing/using advanced chips will dampen the enthusiasm of Chinese toward smartphones. The remnant effect of this decrease of passion will reduce Chinese smartphone makers in developing new smartphones. Because they see there is no future to match Apple iPhones. Why bother?

That is definitely not the case as all Chinese manufacturers still have access to the most cutting edge chipsets. The only real developer of homegrown custom SoCs for phones was Huawei but they are also using Snapdragon chipsets at the high end now, and have stated that 2023 will be the year they move back to a two flagship models per year.

They have been re-jigging their supply chain and obviously left a huge hole in the Chinese market while everything slowly comes back online.

Throw in Covid, an economic downturn, the chip shortage/surplus, the US-China tech war and the resulting longer upgrade periods and you have pretty much the perfect storm and I'm of the opinion that Apple hasn't escaped it.

Prices in the EU for example are a mid-term deterrent for purchase and, availability aside, I expect demand to be weaker during the holiday period.

But the most important point is that the market is still dominated by Android phones.