CHINESE BRANDS ON THE RISE
Mobile phone seller Rezky Alfonso, who hails from Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta, noticed that Chinese handphones have dominated the Indonesian market since around 2015.
The 36-year-old attributed it to the rise of the Android operating system, and the resulting affordability of Android phones has contributed to the dominance of Chinese brands in Indonesia.
Before that, he said the primary operating systems used by phones sold in Indonesia were the BlackBerry operating system and Nokia’s.
Rezky still sells Nokia phones and has people buying them, although not in large numbers.
Most of his customers are young people like gamers. They are price-conscious and know what they want, as information about various phone models is readily available online.
“People are increasingly buying Chinese brands’ phones because they tend to offer higher specifications,” said Rezky.
“They’re also more affordable and cheaper. The difference is quite significant.”
He said a Chinese phone can be sold for just about 1.5 million rupiah, but claims its specifications can be twice as good as those of Android phones from other companies, which are sold at twice the price.
The two brands that are sold the most at his shop in South Jakarta are Infinix and Xiaomi. And while there are some customers who prefer non-Chinese brands such as those from Korean conglomerate Samsung, the numbers are not significant.
They are mostly businesspeople who value their image and prestige, said Rezky.
According to global technology market firm Canalys, the top three mobile phone brands with the biggest market share in Indonesia in the first quarter of 2025 are all from China: Xiaomi with 19.5 per cent, Transsion with 17.4 per cent and Oppo with 16.5 per cent.
Samsung comes in fourth place with 16 per cent followed by Vivo with 15.7 per cent.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, Canalys reported that Xiaomi led the country’s smartphone shipments with almost 16 per cent of market share in 2024, followed by Samsung which held over 14 per cent.
This was followed by other Chinese brands Vivo (13.1 per cent), Oppo (12.5 per cent), Transsion (11.9 per cent), Realme (9.97 per cent), Honor (9.71 per cent) as well as US brand Apple at 8.36 per cent.
Globally, however, Samsung leads with a 19 per cent market share in the second quarter of 2025, followed by Apple with 16 per cent and Xiaomi with 15 per cent. Vivo and Transsion both hold a 9 per cent market share.
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