With a market value of more than 100 billion baht, Thailand's smartphone market will continue to be a "sweet spot" in Southeast Asia for device makers, mainly for the flagship models, amid the country's challenging economy and less handset subsidy support from mobile phone operators, says Chinese smartphone maker Oppo. Thailand has above average mobile phone selling prices, due to consumers' strong purchasing power for the flagship models. Amid the difficult economy, models in the premium segment have experienced the least impact, compared with entry-price smartphones which have been hit with declining sales. Thailand's smartphone sales declined by 20% year-on-year in the first quarter, compared to a global fall of 14.6% in the same period, mainly due to a sharp drop in the low-end smartphone segment, according to global IT research firm IDC. (ICE BANGKOK)

Fonte notizia: Bangkok Post