As in much of Southeast Asia, smartphones made by Samsung and a short list of Chinese brands dominate the Vietnamese market. They have enough specs, from cameras to screen size, that users want. They run on Google’s familiar Android system. And they cost less than an iPhone. That’s all ideal for a developing country.
Over the years, several Vietnamese companies have tried to grab a share of their own increasingly prosperous market but found little traction. The foreign brands had come in before Vietnam’s own could get started.
But this year, Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup aims to overtake some of the Chinese brands. Its phone unit will seek that lead by giving Vietnamese consumers a roster of sought-after specs, keeping prices around $100 per phone and marketing them offline in ways that foreign brands would have trouble matching.
The conglomerate owned by Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong, saw its smartphone share surge after initial sales of its Joy 3 model on February 14, says Vsmart deputy CEO Tran Minh Trung. The company sold 12,000 phones in 14 hours, Tran notes, because consumers liked the localized features.
“Even though Vsmart phones use Android operating system, Vsmart’s software engineering department customized the original Android operating system to develop it into a VOS operating system with features specific to Vietnamese consumers,” the deputy CEO says, using the system’s proprietary name. The phones run faster than normal for an Android phone and support free Vsmart-to-Vsmart messaging plus free calls between Vsmart devices, he adds.
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