New Chinese smartphone makers are keen to increase their footprint in Thailand's saturated smartphone market worth 108 billion baht via the Thailand Mobile Expo.
"Nearly 50% of the smartphone market comes from the retail channel and the rest is through mobile operators so there is opportunity for new players, especially the Chinese brands," Opas Chadpun, chief executive of M Vision Plc, organiser of Thailand Mobile Expo at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.
At least 11 new smartphone models are expected to be introduced at the four-day event, May 24-27, to stimulate demand in the second quarter.
Top features for the new phones are cameras, artificial intelligence (AI) and biometric authentication such as using fingerprints.
AI-camera smartphones can detect objects, learn what they are, and adjust the photo mode automatically for better pictures, he said.
Smartphones priced 10,000-15,000 baht control over 50% of the market.
Mr Opas said the company expects 2 billion baht in sales for the four-day event, the same as the last expo in the first quarter.
Chanon Jirayukul, sales director for Oppo, said the local smartphone market this year will continue to contract by single digits, compared with a 10% decline last year, to 14 million units as the market is saturated and the economy has sagged for low-income consumers.
However, in terms of value growth, the market is expected to reach 110 billion baht this year from 108 billion in 2017.
"The value growth is because consumers are buying higher-priced smartphones," said Mr Chanon.
Cheaper devices below 5,000 baht are decreasing this year, while the market for 10,000-baht smartphones is growing, with several brands such as Oppo, Huawei, Novo, Vivo and Samsung playing the mid-range segment.
He said as the market shrinks, the only way to grow is gaining share from rivals.
Wichai Pornpratang, corporate vice-president of Thai Samsung Electronics, said AI cameras and security features on high-end smartphones will move to mid-range model to serve social media and video consumption as well as internet banking.
