Foreign smartphone makers tap Viet Nam market promise. -- Photo news.go.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub)  — Foreign smartphone producers continue to promote their products in Viet Nam and claim that close to 7 million smartphones were sold in the country last year.

In early March, China's Gionee launched its flagship Elife E7 smartphone line in the Vietnamese market and revealed that its S5.5 line would be available in the country in June.

Xiaomi, another brand from China, aims to sell 40 million smartphones this year.

Singapore and Viet Nam are reportedly the group's priority markets.

Taiwan-based PC maker ASUS unveiled its latest smartphone line, the Zenfone series, which will make a foray into Viet Nam next month.

ASUS Viet Nam country manager Jeff Lo said the product design, durability, functionality, energy efficiency and pricing would lend a competitive edge to their smartphones in the local market.

Last year, the market welcomed newcomers OPPO, Huawei, and Haier.

Their medium and low-cost smartphones are competing with products from Lenovo, Samsung, Nokia, and HTC, all of which have a well-established presence in the Vietnamese market.

In fact, most major smartphone producers have set up shop in Viet Nam.

Technology firms predict that 17 million smartphones will be sold in Viet Nam in 2014.

Gerard Tan, GfK Asia's account director for Digital Technology, claimed 50 per cent of the consumers in Southeast Asia used smartphones and this provided enormous business opportunities to both manufactures and retailers.

In 2013, Viet Nam imported cell phones and components worth US$8.05 billion, a year-on-year increase of 59.6 per cent. — VNS