Symphony and Samsung continue to rule the handset market in Bangladesh, in both feature phone and smartphone segments. A recent report released by Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPIA) showed the data.
The report showed that a total of 31.20 million handsets of 1500 different models and types, worth BDT 80 billion approximately, were imported in 2016. Symphony imported a staggering 11.60 million handsets, which was 37% of total sold handsets in 2016, thus securing the first spot in total handset sales in terms of number. Samsung stood second and imported 2 million handsets.
In terms of revenue from total handset sales, Symphony was also the market leader followed by Samsung.
However, in smartphone segment, the scenario is a bit different. Though symphony imported more smartphones, samsung got the upper hand in total revenue from smartphone sales. Essentially, this was due to price tag of smartphones bought by these two different brands.
While Samsung and Symphony is on head to head competition, Huawei is steadily marching to the third spot. This brand has hastily opened franchise shops around the country, making it available to customers. Huawei sold only 0.7 million smartphones last year, but they bagged a huge BDT6 billion, thanks to their high-end smartphones.
The reported commented that customers are opting more for high-end smartphone, thanks to the growing mobile internet users. The association expected that they would import smartphones worth BDT 100 billion in 2017, as the demand is growing steadily in Bangladesh, compared to other southeast asian countries. The report noted that 5 inch sized handsets are most popular among the customers.
