Virus, lack of 5G weigh down smartphone market
The local smartphone market looks gloomy this year, weighed down by fears over the virus outbreak, the lack of a 5G network and subdued economic conditions, says an organiser of Thailand Mobile Expo 2020.
Even so, the gaming business has shown strong growth despite the economic slowdown.
This prompted the mobile expo to diversify its business to cover the Thailand Game Expo and Idol events, which will attract young buyers, said Opas Cherdpunt, managing director of M Vision Plc, an organiser of the expo, which runs until Sunday at Bitec.
The lack of a 5G network or exciting new technologies will slow down smartphone replacement, while customers are also concerned about the current economic conditions.
“5G-enabled smartphones could drive growth in the segment in early 2021, as it will take time to ready the network,” Mr Opas said.
He also expressed concerns about people trying to avoid crowded places like the expo due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“We expect sales for the four-day event to remain flat at 2 billion baht with 700,000 visitors,” Mr Opas said. The smartphone space bookings at the event were down by 5% from last year.
M Vision also collaborated with biggest mobile operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) to organise the Thailand Game Expo at another hall in Bitec.
Teerit Paowan, an analyst at tech research firm IDC Thailand, said the smartphone market is likely to be subdued in the first quarter of the year because of the economic slowdown, the lack of 5G service and a possible shortfall in smartphone supply from Chinese makers after the viral outbreak in that country.
But the appreciation of the baht and the roll-out of the 5G network later this year will be conducive to the purchase of 5G-enabled devices, he said.
Some 18 million smartphones are expected to be sold this year with a total value of 180 billion baht, up from 17 million units with a value of 166 billion baht last year.
Alistair David Johnson, managing director for new business at AIS, said gaming is one of the company’s promising new businesses.
In 2020, game revenue in Thailand is expected to reach 27 billion baht, up 15.8% from 2019.
Mobile and tablet revenue will grow by 19.2% to 19.1 billion baht year-on-year, and that of personal computers will rise 8.3% to 5.9 billion baht. Game console revenue will surge 8.2% to 1.98 billion baht.
In 2019, there were nearly 28 million active gamers in Thailand, 41% of the population. Of them, 16.3 million were paying gamers.
Mr Johnson said the e-sport audience in the country is set to rise from 3.4 million in 2019 to 4.3 million in 2020.
“AIS now gains revenue from game SIM packages, fixed broadband packages for gamers, as well as game items and tournaments,” he said.