Local smartphone manufacturers in Indonesia are said to be sharply increasing their share of the local market, which is considered to be a representative emerging smartphone market. It reflects the global trend of an increasing demand for entry-level and mid-range smartphones, instead of expensive premium ones.
Since Indonesia is the strategic outpost of Korean handset maker Pantech, which recently proposed its rehabilitation plan, fierce competition between Indonesian manufacturers is regarded as a positive signal for the Korean company.
According to Hong Kong-based market research firm Counterpoint Research on Sept. 3, three local companies – Evercoss, Advan, and Smartfren – ranked among the top 5 smartphone vendors in Indonesia during the second quarter of this year. The three companies primarily sell low-priced phones in the local market, and their combined share is 36 percent.
Although Samsung Electronics maintained its top position in the market, its share decreased from 33 percent to 24 percent, exhibiting weaker performance.
Counterpoint Research said, "Samsung's sluggish sales performance in the Indonesian market is due to the fact that sales of its mid to low-priced phones were weaker than expected, stemming from challenges from local and Chinese handset makers."
A report recently published by research firm Strategy Analytics also said that Samsung maintained the top spot in Q2 2015, but its share of the Indonesian market was 25.6 percent, a quarter-on-quarter reduction of 4 percent.
Smartphone makers based in Indonesia fiercely competed with each other in the market during the period. Advan only accounted for 7 percent of the market in Q1, which placed the firm in the fourth spot. However, its share jumped to 11 percent in Q2, and thus its ranking went up by one notch to 3rd place, beating its rival Smartfren, according to Counterpoint Research.
In the meantime, the LTE ecosystem was created in Indonesia in Q2 2015. The sales volume of LTE smartphones grew about 300 percent to reach around 1 million units during the period, which is the highest-ever quarterly result.