Bangladesh Smartphone Market Grew 20% Annually

New Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Seoul, London, Buenos Aires – Dec 2016

As per latest research from our Market Monitor program for Q3 2016 (Jul-Sep), Bangladesh mobile phone market declined 4% YoY for the first time. However, the smartphone sub-segment saw a strong 20% growth highlighting a rapid decline in feature phone demand (-10% YoY) during the quarter. After a weak first quarter the sell-in picked up in second quarter, the growth continued in the third quarter.

Counterpoint Senior Analyst SuJeong Lim, noted, “Although Bangladesh mobile phone market is driven by feature phones, smartphone percent share of the total shipments has been growing every quarter. The smartphones as a share of total mobile phones is estimated to rise from 28% to almost 50% by the end of 2017.

The rise of smartphones is fuelled by the launch of affordable 3G devices in the sub-5000 BDT (or sub-65 USD) category mainly driven by local brands such as Symphony and Walton. Global brands Samsung with its J series smartphones along with Huawei and Oppo are pushing the 4G LTE capable smartphones in sub 12000 BDT (sub-USD 150 segment), the next battleground for differentiation in Bangladesh smartphone segment in 2017. LTE capable smartphones now contribute to nearly one on four smartphones shipped in Bangladesh”

Counterpoint Research Analyst Pavel Naiya, added, “Bangladesh market is mainly dominated by local players with a combined share of two-thirds of the total mobile phone market. Symphony Mobile remained the single largest mobile phone brand followed by Winmax mobile and others. Smaller Chinese brands are feeling the pressure and continue to lose market share with entry of global players such as Oppo and Xiaomi have entered the smartphone market and local players are upping the ante with low cost smartphones to sustain market share.”

Market Summary: 

• Bangladesh mobile phone market grew 14% sequentially and declined 4% Y-o-Y.

• Smartphone market grew a healthy 20% annually and saw 5% sequential growth.
• Smartphone shipments contributed to 28% of the total mobile phone shipments, signaling that more vendors have now greater mix of smartphones in their device portfolio.
• Symphony mobile leads by a distance in both overall mobile phone and the fast-growing smartphone sub-segment with a market share of 41% and 45% respectively. It continues to stay ahead of the competition through its affordable offerings, effective localization of software and services, expansive distribution and strong connect with local users.
• Symphony V75, a US$59 retail 5” smartphone model was best-selling model in Bangladesh during the quarter.
• Winmax mobile captured the second position in overall mobile phones away from Samsung with a 32% QoQ growth driven mainly by feature phones.
• Samsung has slipped to become the third largest mobile phone brand in Bangladesh but still holds the second position in the fast-growing smartphone market with a 15% market share.
• Samsung’s J series remains the driving factor for the South Korean mobile phone giant in the country. Galaxy J2 was the best-selling smartphone for Samsung during the quarter.
• Walton mobile, the fourth largest mobile phone player in Bangladesh in Q3 launched new models in the quarter to maintain its position in top five rankings in both feature as well as smartphones.
• Huawei that entered the top 5 smartphone brands list first in 1Q 2016 continues to perform well in the segment, moving up into top three spots in 3Q 2016 for the first time. The growth was mainly driven by its affordable Y-series smartphones.
• Micromax India that is struggling in its home market continues to also lose market share in Bangladesh and is out of the top 10 mobile phone brands list in 3Q 2016.
• Bangladesh mobile phone maker Kingstar jumped to fifth spot in the mobile phone segment, the company shipped only feature phones during the quarter riding on the wave of high demand for feature phone.
• Indian brand LAVA that entered the Bangladesh market in 2013, remained strong and remained within top five smartphone brands in the country, its smartphone market share now stands at 8%. The low-cost IRIS 505 drove the growth for LAVA in 3Q 2016.

Exhibit 1: Bangladesh Top 10 Smartphone Models

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor 3Q 2016 Country Report

Exhibit 2: Bangladesh Mobile Phone and Smartphone Shipments

Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor 3Q 2016 Report

The comprehensive and in-depth 3Q 2016 Bangladesh Market Monitor is available for subscribing clients. Please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] for further questions regarding our in-depth latest research, insights or press enquiries.
The Market Monitor research is based on sell-in (shipments) estimates based on vendor’s IR results, vendor polling triangulated with sell-through (sales), supply chain checks and secondary research.