High-end Android smartphones sell at steep discount

Besides offering discounts of VND4-5 million, most stores – in his native Da Nang — also had promotions like trade-in programs and to further reduce the price by VND1-2 million.

“The discounts and promotions make me wonder if other stores offer even lower prices,” he said.

Other Android phone makers too are selling at much below list prices.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a list price of VND32 million, but is sold at is around VND24 million.

Last year Oppo, another Chinese consumer electronics company, listed its Find X5 Pro smartphone in Vietnam at VND33 million, but sold it at less than VND25 million.

“It is normal to buy a phone cheaper than the list price, but a difference of more than 20% only applies to some high-end Android smartphone models,” Truong Xuan, the manager of a phone shop on Pham Tuan Tai Street in Hanoi, said.

However, the plethora of offers for a product confuses buyers, and it takes buyers a lot of time to compare prices and find the best one, he said.

Nguyen Lac Huy, manager of electronics retail chain CellphoneS, said some phone makers have high list prices as a means of enhancing their brand value and placing their products in the high-end segment.

Information about gifts and big promotions in soon after a product’s release also helps attract buyers, he said.

But technology analyst Minh Tien said selling phones at much below list prices shows manufacturers are under pressure.

“Listing a product at VND30 million is understandable because it is gradually becoming a benchmark for high-end smartphones. However, big promotions indicate that firms are desperate for sales in a slowing market.”

Vietnamese are reducing their spending on smartphones sharply. Sales in the first two months of the year were 2.5 million units, down 30% year-on-year.