Samsung took the first position from Symphony in Bangladesh smartphone market, grabbing a 22% market share.

LTE capable smartphones grew 117% YoY during Q1 2019.

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May 30th, 2019

The smartphone market in Bangladesh grew 45% year-on-year (YoY) during Q1 2019, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor Service. This was due to the increase in the availability of locally manufactured devices. The volume of locally manufactured devices increased by 29% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), and they now make up for 41% of Bangladesh’s smartphone market.

Commenting on the performance of various brands, Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, “Local brands in Bangladesh had a 39% market share in Q1 2019. Among the local brands, Maximus showed a huge growth of 793% YoY, driven by its affordable offerings in the US$25-US$75 price band. Maximus D7 was the second best selling model in Q1 2019, after Samsung Galaxy J2 Core. On the other hand, Chinese brands grew 38% YoY, grabbing a 33% market share, which was largely driven by the growth of Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo, which contributed to 65% of the overall shipments of  Chinese brands.”

Commenting on Bangladesh market, Abhishek Choudhary, Research Associate at Counterpoint Research, said, “Locally made handsets are proving to be a success. Prices of locally assembled devices are lower than that of the imported ones. Also, the defect ratio of the latest locally manufactured devices has also come down sharply in comparison to the earlier ones. Clearly, the government’s efforts to promote local manufacturing has been successful. In a highly competitive market, locally made handsets are giving stiff competition to imports.”

In terms of brands, Samsung was the clear leader. Samsung’s shipments grew 203% YoY, helping it capture the top spot for the first time in Bangladesh. It's market share stood at 22%, while the former market leader, Symphony only had a 16% market share. Symphony, the former market leader, is now the second best selling smartphone brand in Bangladesh. New launches and boost in the local manufacturing were the reason behind Samsung’s growth. The Samsung Galaxy J2 Core was its top model. Expanding its portfolio also helped Samsung, as the newly introduced A-series smartphones dominated their respective price bands.

Transsion did well driven by strong shipments of iTel in sub $75 segment.A33 Android Go edition remained popular. As it scales up its local assembling, Transsion is looking forward to grow its market share with multiple brand strategy (iTel, Tecno and Infinix)

Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments grew 165% YoY. The brand had a 7% market share and was among the top five smartphone brands during Q1 2019. vivo grew at a stunning 1,133% YoY with new launches such as Y91C, Y91i. Huawei witnessed a resurgence in shipments, which grew 7% QoQ due to its Y series models. Huawei also offered discounts to customers purchasing handsets from Huawei-authorized outlets. Customers buying smartphones from Robishop (an e-commerce platform from Telecom Operator Robi Axiata Limited) could also get the Robi and Airtel bundle.

Even the local brands of Bangladesh had a strong performance during Q1 2019. Symphony, Walton and Maximus were part of the top five local smartphone brands by market share.

With the advent of 4G services, shipments of LTE capable smartphones grew 117% YoY. The availability of LTE capable smartphones is constantly increasing. Samsung alone contributed to 34% of the total LTE capable device shipments, followed by Xiaomi with an 11% share.

In terms of system-on-a-chip (SoC) vendors, MediaTek is the leader with a 54% market share, followed by Qualcomm at 15%. Qualcomm powered smartphone shipments grew 116% YoY, largely driven by Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and Huawei. Samsung contributed 36% of shipments of  Qualcomm powered chipsets, followed by Xiaomi, which contributed 33%.

Exhibit 1: Bangladesh Smartphone Market Share – Q1 2019

 Source: Counterpoint Research Market Monitor

Market summary:

• Symphony ranked second in the market share rankings, with a decline in sales of best-selling V98. Shipments declined 19% QoQ but registered 2% YoY growth.
• The US$75-US$100 price band grew 74% QoQ, driven by the Samsung Galaxy J2 Core.
• Shipments of phones with a primary camera of 15.00-19.99 megapixel (MP) grew 203% QoQ, driven by Samsung’s models. Samsung Galaxy A30 grabbed a 79% shipment share in this segment.
• Shipments of devices with a RAM ≥4GB grew 76% QoQ. This was driven by Samsung, which contributed 62% of the shipments in this segment.
• Shipments of devices with 64GB internal memory grew 90% QoQ and 197% YoY, driven by Samsung models.
• Shipments of devices with 4001-5000 mAh battery capacity grew 88% QoQ, driven by vivo, OPPO, and Samsung.

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Analyst Contacts:

Karn Chauhan

Abhishek Choudhary

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