Malaysians spent around RM6.8 billion on smartphones last year, said GfK, a market research organisation.<\/p>\n
This was a significant increase from 2015, which rang in RM5.4 billion. The biggest contributor to the spending is mid-range model smartphones priced between RM900 and RM1,050, said GfK\u2019s South-East Asia managing director Stanley Kee.<\/p>\n
He said the Point of Sales Tracking was done between March 2016 and February 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cChinese brand smartphones were the key drivers to the spike in demand for mobile devices last year, which registered the highest number of new smartphone brands entering the marketplace.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the recent nationwide expansion in mobile connectivity, consumers in the country are increasingly using their smartphones for activities such as mobile shopping, social media and surfing of the Internet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The tracking also found that phones with screen sizes ranged from 5.01 to 5.60 inches have increased in popularity, from 21% of the total sale in 2015, to 37% in 2016. It is the fastest growing screen size segment in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n
Shopping apps have also gained popularity, paving the path for mobile payments, said Kee.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore consumers today are contributing to the growth of mobile commerce (m-commerce) in Malaysia, making payments through their mobile devices for retail items, airline tickets, and services such as Grab and Uber,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Most Malaysians also indicated price and brand image as the main deciding factors in their smartphones purchase in the 2016 GfK Shopper Monitor Electro consumer survey.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Malaysian consumers are largely motivated by price, we believe the mid-range category of smartphones will continue to dominate the market this year,\u201d said Kee.<\/p>\n