KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will likely witness more Chinese smartphones entering its mobile phone market, multiplying the intensity of competition in the arena, said research firm IDC Malaysia.

“Vendors that used to dominate will likely be seen changing gears to improve their strategies in order to compete effectively again,” it said in a statement yesterday.

“It goes without saying that most of these phones run on Android and the Chinese vendors (who) are the leaders of Android phones will continue with prosperous growth,” it added. 

IDC Malaysia said the influx of Chinese handphones has been a “game-changer” in Malaysia.

It noted that an influx of Chinese smartphones including those from Taiwan emerged around the second quarter of this year, disrupting the local mobile phone market from then on, “leaving well-known giants like Samsung, Apple and Sony in a state of 

decline”. 

“Apart from well-known smartphone vendors, most feature phones vendors witnessed a decline — a relative effect caused by the variety of Chinese handsets available in the local market,” it said.

According to its data, smartphone growth was slightly less than 60% for the first half of 2014 and steadily edged closer toward 70% in the second half.  

It added that for the local market, Chinese vendors mostly brought in phones that were “entry- to mid-level models” which cost around US$200. 

The research firm added that a lack of the “latest features” in these models did not dim their appeal with Malaysian users as they were seen as “good enough” for daily usage. 

“From IDC’s viewpoint, end users saw these types of handsets as a golden opportunity for an upgrade or change as such handsets are considered value for money due to affordable pricing and reasonable specifications which allowed them to install and run various free essential apps without facing much issue,” it said. 

Comparing Chinese smartphones with non-Chinese ones, Chinese smartphones’ unit shipment nearly tripled in the first half of 2014 compared with the year-ago period, with Lenovo leading the pack. 

“The newcomers, Xiaomi and Oppo, trailed behind closely while the non-Chinese smartphones suffered a consecutive decline. Despite maintaining sustainable levels of sales, tech giants that use to dominate like Samsung, Apple and Sony registered a substantial decline in market share. 

“Samsung remains the market leader in spite of the competition,” it added.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 24, 2014.