Young consumers in Southeast Asia prefer budget phones over Apple’s iPhones and Samsung’s high-end handsets: survey
- Affordable smartphones are more attractive to Gen Z and millennials in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, a survey shows
- The survey also finds that young consumers in Southeast Asia mainly use their handsets for entertainment, such as mobile gaming
An overwhelming majority of young consumers in Southeast Asia are more attracted to mid-range or budget phones than higher-end models from established brands like Samsung Electronics and Apple, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by British market research firm YouGov and sponsored by Xiaomi-backed smartphone brand Poco, covered 2,500 Gen Z and millennial consumers – defined as those aged between 18 and 40 – in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
More than three-quarters of respondents agreed that they prefer “mid-range” phones, including 37 per cent who “strongly” agreed with that preference.
Almost eight out of every 10 respondents said they are more confident in mid-range mobile phones than five years ago, because those devices are affordable and budget friendly, strike a good balance between price and performance, and fulfil user needs without excessive features.
Poco, which was spun off from Beijing-based Xiaomi in 2020, is trying to win young smartphone users in Southeast Asia with its pitch for good price-to-value handsets, such as its newly released Poco M3 Pro 5G, which sells in Indonesia at a starting price of 2,399,000 rupiah (US$156.5).
