The smartphone market in Malaysia is very competitive with various players vying for the top spot. Brands release models from entry-level phones to mid-range and flagship models. There is a phone for everyone, with a myriad of specifications being offered. South Korea, US and China are the three countries that produce smartphones. As recent as the past five years, Chinese smartphones are becoming the top choice for Malaysians. The hefty price tag of American and South Korean smartphone brands are causing buyers to turn away from these brands and choosing Chinese smartphone brands instead. In this article, we speak to industry leaders and users to find out why Chinese smartphone brands are becoming the top choice for Malaysians.

Wong Li Lian is using the One Plus 3T and she has been using it for two years. The reason why she bought the phone is because it is affordable and it has better specs than many other competitive brands in the market. Previously she was using the iPhone 5s. “iPhones are build with better responsiveness and less likelihood of an application crashing. However for price point, the One Plus is a better value for money,”she shared.

Ahmed M. Ahmed, a market analyst of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Devices Research Team provided some insight about the smartphone preference in Malaysia. According to him, in 2018, IDC surveyed end users in Malaysia about how long they kept their previous smartphone before replacing it. Only about 10% said they replaced their phone within a year. Meanwhile, 35% of surveyed consumers kept their previous model for 3 years before upgrading.

The data also showed that 9.3 million smartphones were shipped into the country last year with Samsung closing 2018 with a market share of 33.5% maintaining its lead of the smartphone market in the country since 2012.

Benjamin Koh uses a Xiaomi Pocophone since November 2018 and he has been using Xiaomi since their sixth generation flagship model. “I use Chinese models or Xiaomi to be specific because of its affordability and because I look at phone specifications. These are more tangible features as opposed to often gimmicky features offered by American or Korean brands. I have used Samsung and Apple in a number of occasions. Samsung runs Android which is not very different from Xiaomi. Apple’s iOS is very simple which I believe appeals to those who find running apps complicated,” he said.

This chart by GfK shows Chinese smartphone market share for the past three years. As you can see from the chart the growth of Chinese smartphones have increased yearly.

LT is a user of Xiaomi too. He feels that Chinese smartphone brands are as good as Apple and Samsung and the price is cheaper with equally good quality. “Why pay extra for the brand? Samsung is no different from Xiaomi.”

Based on more data by IDC, Chinese brands are increasing their presence in Malaysia with Huawei second behind Samsung with a share of 17.6%. OPPO slipped down to third with a share of just below 10% while Vivo and Xiaomi complete the top five smartphone brands in Malaysia in a close race, covering 8.3% and 8.1% respectively. Ahmed noted that Chinese smartphone brands consist of 56% of Malaysian smartphone market by the end of 2018.

“The Chinese brands continue to offer products at attractive pricing, especially in the Low-End (US$100<200, approximately MYR400<800) and the Mid-Range (US$200<400, approximately MYR800<1650) segments. These models are feature rich and offer many “premium” qualities such as large screen sizes with different notch designs or popup cameras, higher quality front camera for the selfie crowd, high performance for mobile gaming, etc.”

“Meanwhile, Samsung Low-End and Mid-Range lineups were plagued by older models and overlapping products. Samsung is revamping its portfolio with new lineups (the new M and A series) to address this challenge but it is yet to be seen how well Samsung will stop the Chinese brands and sub-brands from chipping away more of its share.”

Keith Wong have been using the Huawei Nova 4 since 2016. She chooses Huawei for its reasonable price and its cheaper than the same range and specs of Korean brands. Previously she was using iPhone but she feels that it is more expensive. The iPhone had a better response on screen, based on her experience but she prefers Android phones because it doesn’t need a lot of memory to update.

The choice to switch from Samsung or Apple to Chinese smartphones seems to be because of the price most of the time. Chinese smartphone brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and others offer much more features with lower price point. Of course there are Chinese smartphones that are above the RM2,000 mark and those have features that are way better than their rivals. Seeing the trend that Malaysians prefer Chinese smartphones, it’s only a matter of time that Samsung and Apple have to do something to stay afloat.