Thailand's smartphone market is expected to see robust growth of 10% this year for unit sales as the high-speed mobile broadband continues to skyrocket.
The mid-tier smartphone or "affordable premium" segment, priced 4,000-12,000 baht, will be the key growth driver, said Opas Cherdpunt, managing director of M Vision, the organiser of Thailand Mobile Expo 2015.
Major mobile operators confirm that 4G mobile broadband service in Thailand is gaining real momentum to achieve economies of scale for mobile handsets and network equipment, thanks to strong growth of smartphones backed by greater availability of 3G and 4G network coverage.
Mr Opas said smartphones sales in Thailand were expected to grow by 10% to 14 million units this year in a market valued at 103 billion baht, an increase of 5% from last year.
"We feel this year will be an exciting one for the smartphone market, as evidenced by the larger crowd at the first day of this year's Mobile Expo," he said.
The four-day event, being held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, features a mobile gaming zone and gadget zone for the first time to capture booming mobile gaming and wearable device sales.
Mr Opas said he expected large-screen smartphones priced 8,000-12,000 baht to account for half of total handset sales at this year's expo.
M Vision predicts total sales revenue will increase by 10% to 1.54 billion baht this year, thanks to increased consumer spending and confidence.
Wichai Pornpratang, vice-president for IT and mobile communications of Thai Samsung Electronics, said mid-tier smartphones should account for 49% of 14 million total units sold this year.
To chase the strong demand, Samsung is promoting its new Galaxy A series, priced 12,900 baht for the A5 model and 14,900 for the A7.
Samsung is also promoting its new premium Galaxy Note Edge, priced at 28,900 baht, to strengthen its full range of products.
Mr Wichai said the local smartphone market in terms of volume and value was projected to grow by 15% in 2016, helped by strong migration from 3G to 4G services.
The wearable device market is considered the next growth area and is poised for strong gains with total sales of 1 million units this year, he said.
Subhasiddhi Rakkasikorn, chief of marketing for Samart I-Mobile, said smartphone prices in the Thai market were expected to drop significantly this year, due largely to intensifying competition from Chinese handset makers like Huawei, ZTE and household brands.
"We project sales of smartphones in Thailand to reach 17-20 million units this year," he said.
Entry-level smartphones with a 3.5-inch display start from 1,000 baht, compared with 2,300 baht last year.
Nathakorn Jaroonoroj, brand director of Vivo Service (Thailand), a handset distribution firm, said smartphones now mostly appeal to people aged 15-40 years, compared with 18-30 previously.
Vivo will spend 300-500 million baht this year in a drive to capture at least a 5% market share, targeting handsets priced 10,000 baht apiece.
Santi Lothong, director and editor of Compgamer, the co-organiser of Mobile Expo, said up to 20 mobile games are being demonstrated at the event to promote the market.
Thailand has 7 million mobile gamers, 700,000 of which pay money to play games. He expects the expo will drive the mobile game market to grow 50% in 2015.