5G smartphone shipment in Indonesia is accounting for 21 percent of the total smartphone business vs 79 percent share for 4G smartphones during Q2 2022.
Indonesia’s 5G smartphone shipment grew 159 percent in Q2 2022, Counterpoint Research said – led by Samsung, OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi. The research report did not reveal the number of 5G capable phones shipped during the second quarter.
5G smartphone market growth is moving away from the mid-price segment, with the sub-$350 and >$500 price bands accounting for nearly three-quarters of all shipments. Last year’s dominant mid-band lost more than 50 percent of its share YoY in Q2 2022.
Redmi and Samsung are driving the growth in the lower priced 5G smartphones thanks to consumer demand for their Note 10 5G and A22 series devices.
Apple and Samsung dominate the premium segment of 5G smartphone market with almost 60 percent share.
The attractiveness of 5G smartphone specifications in the <$350 segment could lead to a shrinking of the mid-price tier. Given the competitive specifications for ROM, RAM and battery capacity, consumers prefer prices below $350 for a 5G smartphone.
Three, Indosat, Smartfren, Telkomsel and XL are the top mobile operators in Indonesia. The promotion of 5G smartphones by OEMs has failed to significantly convince the Indonesian mobile operators into expanding their 5G networks. This is mainly due to limited 5G frequency availability and the absence of strong use cases on the consumer side.
Telkomsel has acquired 5G spectrum during the recently conducted auction for additional frequencies, such as 2.1 GHz.
Another auction is expected soon for the low-band 700 MHz.
Considering that operators have been utilizing 4G and 5G together, OEMs need to keep dual SIM slots for both 4G and 5G. This way a consumer can choose 4G and 5G services from different operators, considering limited 5G coverage.
The current 5G network was built upon the existing 4G network and these frequencies are in low and mid bands. 2.3 GHz, 2.6 GHz and other high bands can be considered for future 5G use.
