Smartphones are becoming more affordable in Vietnam as anyone can buy one starting from VND1.5 million ($72) each.

The recent booming in smartphone production, plus the popularization of Android operating system for smartphone, has cut down the manufacturing costs of a smartphone, making them direct competitors to popular cell phones.Inevitable replacement

According to Tuoi Tre survey, the market prices of the ordinary cell phones, or feature phone with only simple features like listening to calls, texting, listening to music, taking photography at low resolution, are ranging from VND200,000 to VND3 million each.

Meanwhile, the segment of smartphones priced under VND3 million, running the Android operating system, have marked the presence of many firms, from foreign ones like: LG, Samsung, Gionee, Huawei, to the local one, Mobiistar.

Particularly, those produced by Chinese ZTE, and Gionee, and the Vietnamese brand Mobiistar, are sold at less than VND2 million per unit.

The lowest price of a Android-based smartphone at The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World) supermarket chain is at VND1.5 million, lower than many popular phone models, said Dinh Anh Huan, sales director of the distributing network of mobile phones and electronics, thegioididong.com and dienmay.com.

Regarding the competitiveness of cheap smartphones against ordinary phones, Huan said the average amount of money a Vietnamese person spends to buy a mobile phone is now at about VND1.6 million, according to his firm’s survey.

With this money, an ordinary customer will definitely choose smartphone for superior functions and differentiation, while it is only slightly more expensive than the cheap popular cell phones worth under VND1 million each, he said.

Moreover, the costs of 3G network in Vietnam are also very cheap now, at some VND40,000 a month for a popular mobile Internet package. This also makes the choice of smartphone more attractive and relevant in the eyes of consumers.

But the most disturbing thing that many users intending to buy cheap smartphone are facing is quality issues.

Online shopping for such smartphones, or buying them at black markets without understanding about the brands and quality standards, have make many people, after being fooled, frustrated.

Poised to boom

According to a study by Ericsson ConsumerLab earlier last month, mobile device users in Vietnam are using more data services. Specifically, the data services of mobile applications on smartphones are expected to increase from 35 percent to 40 percent in the next few months.

Research results also showed that the application of entertainment, TV, and video game programs are the most popularly downloaded ones.

The popular demand for mobile Internet connections also lead to increasing demand for smartphones.

Bui Van Hoa, deputy general manager of Vien Thong A, said cheap smartphone market share has begun to boom, and will see strong acceleration in the next few months when ordinary phone’s market share will start to decline.

Budget phones will eventually be knocked down then, and have to flee from urban areas and to rural and remote areas. "Even in rural areas today, people already use smartphones more popularly," Hoa said.

The increasing growth of cheap smartphones will soon put an end to ordinary phones, Huan said. "In early 2013, cheap smartphone will account for the majority of market share in major cities, popular phones will be reduced to a minimum. After 2013, ordinary phone may be history in urban areas. "

The disappearance of the popular phone is inevitable, the problem now is that how fast it will occur.