Vietnamese users still have to buy iPhone 14 after customers in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia 2-3 weeks.
Recently, a lot of information from retailers shows that Apple Vietnam is making more active moves. However, compared with other countries in the region, the priority of Apple for the domestic market is still low.
Despite the 3-digit growth in the past time, Apple Vietnam has not made profound changes to improve the customer experience. Compared with users in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, domestic customers have to suffer.
Vietnam is outside the top 3 priorities
Apple has never published or made a statement about the classification of markets. However, according to distributors, this hierarchy is real. Apple divides grades to focus on goods, prioritizing time for some key markets.
Therefore, when the new iPhone is launched, the company’s flagship product can be used as a measure to evaluate Apple’s ranking with countries.
iPhone 14 series is available in Thailand from September 16, when the country becomes the first-tier market. Photo: Apple.
In the iPhone 14 generation, Southeast Asia has two countries that are classified by Apple as the top market group. Specifically, Singapore and Thailand opened the sale of iPhone 14 series on September 16, at the same time in the US and other major markets. In particular, Thailand is a country that has just been upgraded. Despite having an Apple Store, this country was previously still a group 2 market, selling iPhones 1-2 weeks after Singapore.
Thailand’s becoming a group one market has been predicted in advance. According to IDC, this country has the best iPhone purchasing power in Southeast Asia in the period 2018-2021. While the market share of Apples in Singapore is higher than in Thailand, the country’s capacity is relatively small.
Meanwhile, Counterpoint Research’s Glen Cardoza said that Singapore and Thailand now have a stable customer base for new Apple phones. Therefore, the company prioritizes goods so that these two markets can have machines soon, without shortage.
iPhone 14 series goes on sale soon in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. Photo: Apple.
“The shipment soon arrives in tier-one countries for easy ownership by wealthy customers. The company’s sales in these markets will soon increase sharply,” Glen Cardoza told the Bangkok Post.
Besides Thailand and Singapore, Malaysia is also an early delivery country in the region. Apple homepage announced that users in this country will be able to buy iPhone 14 series from September 23, about a week after the first group markets. At the same time, the iPhone 14 Plus model was sold in this country on October 7, the same time as Singapore and Thailand.
Vietnamese users go to Thailand, Singapore to buy new iPhone
Meanwhile, Apple Vietnam has not announced the opening time of the new generation iPhone to domestic users. “The products will soon be available at Apple authorized resellers and select carriers in Vietnam,” Apple said.
According to representatives from retailers, genuine iPhone 14 will be sold from the first week of October. Therefore, Apple is still ranking Vietnam in the third tier market group, after Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
The scene of Vietnamese people queuing in Singapore to buy iPhones continues. Photo: Xuan Tien.
Vietnam is in the group of countries with the fastest growth rate of Apple. According to a report from Counterpoint Research, the number of iPhones sold in our country in the second quarter is twice as high as the same period in 2021. However, compared to market share, Apple is still only ranked 3rd, behind Samsung and Oppo.
Domestic users have great interest for the new iPhone. On September 8, “iPhone 14” was one of the most searched keywords by Vietnamese people on Google hundreds of thousands of times. The number of subscriptions to receive information at retailers also reached a high level, although Apple has not yet opened orders. Customers who want to buy the device soon are forced to choose to buy portable goods.
Apple has almost wiped out portable iPhones in Vietnam in the period 2020-2021. However, this success mainly comes from the prolonged epidemic and the interruption of small-scale transportation.
In fact, the shopping habits of new domestic users are gradually changing. Meanwhile, price is still an important factor when customers choose to buy iPhone. Occasionally there are waves of portable iPhones that attract buyers.
In May, a shipment of portable iPhone 12 from Japan was brought to Vietnam in the amount of hundreds of thousands of units. According to a shop owner in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, this is a product sold during the promotion of the network operator. The device attracts a large number of customers because of its good price, which is 2-3 million VND cheaper than genuine products.
@ Zing News
