Smartphone shipments in Indonesia edged up 4 per cent year-on-year in Q3 with 4G models accounting for 68 per cent of the total, figures from research company IDC show.
The gains in 4G adoption are largely due to mobile operators pushing to expand their market share in a bid to capitalise on the growing number of smartphone users by offering data bundling packages, the company explained in a statement. The percentage of smartphones sold via operator channels increased 22 per cent from a year ago.
Growth in smartphone shipments suggest the Indonesian market is recovering from a dip in sales during Q2 caused by uncertainty created by new local content regulations.
IDC announced Samsung was the market leader in Q3 with a 32 per cent market share, followed by Oppo with a near 17 per cent share (see chart below, click to enlarge). Asus ranked third with just over an 8 per cent share.
IDC said the fallout from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 recall had relatively little impact on its brand perception in Indonesia.
The research firm said shipments of smartphones in the $250-$300 price segment grew significantly, but the $100-$200 segment remained the sweet spot.
IDC expects the market to expand considerably in Q4, with high demand during the festive season and the local content regulation becoming more accepted after the requirements were clarified.
A number of vendors including Xiaomi, LG and BlackBerry have pledged to comply with the new regulation. Apple, which recently committed to investing $44 million in R&D over the next three years reached a deal with the government allowing the smartphone giant to meet the country’s local content requirements and start selling its new iPhone 7.
In the short term, IDC expects the industry to focus on local assembly, but the inadequate component supply chain remains a challenge. In the longer term, more component manufacturers could move to Indonesia, which means vendors would need to be prepared to have end-to-end manufacturing instead of just assembly.
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