Wichai Pornpratang, the corporate vice president for IT and mobile communications at Thai Samsung Electronics, said the company believed the market in the second half would outperform the first half, growing by around 3-5 per cent.

The factors driving market growth would be the nationwide availability of fourth-generation service, lower prices of mobiles including smartphones, e-banking as well as online marketing, which will provide much more e-services.

And Samsung expects to outdo the growth of the total market, despite heavy competition. Wichai believes three major smartphone manufacturers will control 90 per cent of the market.

He said that to capture the premium market, Samsung had officially announced the Galaxy Note 7, which is equipped with outstanding water and dust resistance. The smartphone works with its signature S Pen designed to complement a large-screen experience even when its screen is wet.

The top smartphone model also boasts an iris scanner.

Samsung has prepared a big marketing campaign for its Galaxy Note 7, which is expected to boost sales in the latter half of 2016. It won overwhelming response during its pre-booking period, according to the company.

“We accepted pre-orders for black and gold Galaxy Note 7s from August 5-14 and customers can pick up the products from September 2-4. Pre-orders for Galaxy Note 7 were more than 30 per cent higher than for the Samsung S7 and S7 Edge at the same time.

“We will officially provide and deliver the new smartphone to the market on September 9 with a price of Bt28,900, expecting a lot of demand,” Wichai said.

He said that smartphone users in Thailand spent more than four hours each day on their devices on average. They use their smartphones not just for making or receiving calls, but also for interacting with friends on social media, browsing the Internet, and playing games.

Rising demand for

big-screen phones

Smartphone users turn to their devices for both work and entertainment. With such behaviour, small-screen smartphones may no longer live up to consumers’ expectations. The trend is reflected in the fact that big-screen smartphones have become the fastest-growing segment in terms of both sales revenue and the number of units sold.

Models with 5.5-inch screens and up account for 35 per cent of the premium smartphones sold and for half of sales revenue. Big-screen users also spend more time on their devices.

“Consumers today want not only a bigger screen but also a more versatile device,” Wichai said. “In response to their needs, Samsung has invented the S Pen to enable people to do what they have never been able to do with their cellphones before.

“Galaxy Note 7 exemplifies Samsung’s most advanced technology. Its S Pen can write even on a wet screen thanks to the highly efficient water and dust resistance.

“The authentication system also goes even more high-tech with an iris scanner. Galaxy Note 7 delivers HDR [high dynamic range] video streaming too so that its users get the fullest [benefit] from content creators. This is a truly interesting feature given that online video is now a growing trend.”

International Data Corporation, a global research company, reported that vendors shipped a total of 343.3 million smartphones worldwide in the second quarter of 2016. This was relatively flat, up 0.3 per cent from the same three months of 2015 when vendors shipped 342.4 million units.

The market did show greater sequential growth, as shipments were up 3.1 per cent from 333.1 million in the first quarter of 2016, IDC reported.