The world's best-selling phone is still difficult to sell in Vietnam

Statistics released by research firm Counterpoint Research in mid-November showed that the iPhone 15 accounted for 3.5% of the global smartphone market share in the last quarter, becoming the world's best-selling phone. The next two positions were the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro, respectively, followed by a number of Android models.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, statistics at many authorized retail systems show that the iPhone 15 ranked behind the Pro, Pro Max models and many other low-cost Android products in the period from July to the end of September.

At FPT Shop, iPhone 15 was not in the top 10 best-selling smartphones in the quarter, and even had lower sales than 16 Pro Max - the new model sold at the end of September.

If we consider Apple products alone, the world's best-selling phone model ranks fifth, after the iPhone 15 Plus, 16 Pro Max, 13 and 15 Pro Max in this system.

At CellphoneS, the iPhone 15 also lost sales to the 15 Pro Max and iPhone 13. Meanwhile, at Mobile World, the most purchased 15 version is the 128 GB pink version, but it is also behind the colors of the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

In the above systems, the most popular product is the iPhone 15 Pro Max 256 GB, although the price is higher than most products on the shelves. This model is currently priced at 29-30 million VND for the 256 GB version, while the iPhone 15 is 19-20 million VND for the 128 GB version.

The iPhone 15 generation that will sell well in the third quarter of 2024 is easy to predict. "This is the preparation stage for the launch of the iPhone 16 series, so the general mentality of many users is to accept buying a device that has been released for nearly a year with the expectation of a good price and the most incentives," said a representative of Mobile World.

However, unlike the world that favors the basic iPhone 15 model, a representative of Mobile World said that the iPhone 15 Pro Max accounts for 70-75% of overall iPhone sales during this period.

According to Mr. Nguyen Lac Huy, representative of CellphoneS, the iPhone 15 Pro series has advantages in performance, supports Apple Intelligence, and a titanium shell. In addition, when choosing a good-priced iPhone, users tend to buy the iPhone 15 Plus with a large screen or the low-priced iPhone 13, around 13-14 million VND. This is a challenge for the iPhone 15 with a 6.1-inch screen, using the Apple A16 Bionic chip and not supporting Apple's AI.

This unit predicts that the iPhone 13, launched in 2021, will continue to be the product chosen by many Vietnamese customers thanks to its good price and configuration that is competitive enough with Android models in the same price range.

Globally, the top 10 best-selling smartphones in the last quarter included four Apple devices, five Samsung devices and one Xiaomi device, similar to the same period in 2023.

Counterpoint said that users tend to increasingly prioritize Apple's high-end models, helping to narrow the gap in market share between the 15 series and the 15 Pro Max. Last year, the iPhone 14 was also the best-selling smartphone with a market share of 3.8%.

For Samsung, most of its products are in the mid-range segment, the A series, of which the most popular is the Galaxy A15, in both 4G and 5G models. The high-end Galaxy S24 model is in 10th place. For Xiaomi, the only representative is the Redmi 13C in the popular segment.