3-year-old iPhone beats latest mid-range Android phones

In late June the price of the iPhone was adjusted down to VND10.4 million ($445.5) to directly compete with the latest Android phones like Oppo Reno 7, Samsung Galaxy A73 and Xiaomi Mi 11T.

The latter come with bigger screens (6.4-6.7 inches), memory (8 GB of RAM), multiple cameras, and 5G connections, while the iPhone 11 has a 6.1-inch screen, 4 GB of RAM, a dual camera, and only 4G compatibility.

But the Apple device leads the VND10-million bracket with its beautiful display, design and ease of use, Nguyen Lac Huy, media representative of electronics store chain CellphoneS, said.

The Anh, an office worker in Hanoi, said he was about to buy an Android smartphone costing VND11 million that was being sold at VND8 million, but changed his mind after knowing the new price of the iPhone 11, and paid VND11 million to get one.

“Finally, there comes an iPhone that is worth buying at the VND10-million price range.”

In the final week of June sales of the iPhone 11 rose sharply due to the price drop while that of Android phones, especially from Chinese makers, fell quite a bit.

“The iPhone 11 has ‘eaten up’ sales of Android devices,” a representative of a retail chain said.

It 11 has been the second best selling device at FPT Shop for months, and its sales surged by over 50 percent in recent weeks.

At CellphoneS, iPhone 11 with 64 GB memory has been the bestseller, while the 128 GB variant is third best.

“Apple’s products are famous for being better at holding their price,” Nguyen The Kha, director of the mobile phones department at FPT Shop, said.

“Once prices fall, they immediately become attractive to customers.”

Some Android brands have tried lowering their prices to compete with the iPhone 11, but failed as their promotion was too little, too late.

The iPhone 12 has an OLED screen and is compatible with 5G, which has yet to be widely adopted in Vietnam.

Apple has another device in the VND10-million price range, the iPhone SE 2022, but it did not gain popularity due to its small screen and single camera.