4G "brick" phones are in serious shortage

From September 16, domestic telecommunications networks will no longer support devices that only use 2G technology. Therefore, to ensure communication, users are required to change their phones from 2G to 4G. In addition to cheap smartphones, 4G push-button phones (also known as "brick phones") are also widely chosen by users. This has led to a shortage of these product lines.

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4G "brick" phones are in serious shortage in the market. Photo: HMD

According to Mr. Tran Duc Tin, Director of Mobile Telecommunications, Mobile World Joint Stock Company, currently, when people convert their 2G "brick" phones to 4G, 90-95% of them still choose push-button phones. This has led to domestic retail systems having a serious shortage of products in this segment to meet demand.

Currently, sales of push-button phones at The Gioi Di Dong have increased 10-15 times, with monthly sales of 300,000 - 400,000 units. Although the company has increased its inventory, mobile phone manufacturers still cannot supply enough. The reason given by Mr. Tran Duc Tin is that the manufacturers are completely passive in the story of shutting down 2G waves this time, so they have not taken strong action and mainly waited for the market situation to react.

Meanwhile, Mr. Huy Nguyen, representative of CellphoneS, also shared that most of the push-button phones on this system have a selling price of less than 1.5 million VND. In recent days, the sales of push-button phones at CellphoneS have increased 4-5 times compared to the previous period. However, according to Mr. Huy Nguyen, push-button phones are currently in short supply locally, the number of phones available at this retail system is only enough to meet the needs of users within the next 2-3 weeks of sales.

Mr. Nguyen The Kha, Commercial Director of FPT Shop system, also informed that although the 4G push-button phone line under 1 million on the current system has a wide variety of models from many brands, the quantity in stock on the channel only meets more than half of the upgrade demand from 2G phones with turned off signal.

Encourage people to switch to 4G smartphones

One of the solutions proposed by the Ministry of Information and Communications when supporting subscribers to switch from 2G to 4G is to encourage people to switch to smartphones, instead of switching to push-button phones. Because switching to smartphones is an opportunity for users to experience new services. Users can access the Internet and use public administrative services of the State from smartphone applications instead of going to websites. This is an opportunity for people to access digital services, gradually forming a digital society, with the goal of creating conditions for users to access new technology.

To do this, recently, mobile phone manufacturers on the market have launched a low-cost smartphone segment under 5 million VND for users to choose from.

For example, Oppo has prepared smartphone models under 5 million VND, focusing on the factors that users need such as beautiful design, large battery, fast charging and high durability. According to Mr. Vu Thanh Trung, Product Director of Oppo Vietnam, this is considered the golden segment and Oppo has launched many smartphone models with different configurations and designs with prices ranging from 2-4 million VND. This helps users to easily spend on a new phone model. For users who are familiar with feature phones, they can also switch to smartphones more quickly.

Mr. Le Hong Phong, Sales Director of Honor Vietnam, informed that to meet the needs of customers switching from 2G phones to 4G in the near future, the company plans to launch smartphone product lines in the 2 - 4 million VND segment. This August, the company will launch the Honor X6b smartphone. This is a product with many outstanding features, high durability and a very preferential price.

Representatives of Xiaomi and Vivo Vietnam also shared that the companies will continue to focus on popular and mid-range 4G smartphone segments to serve the needs of Vietnamese users to upgrade devices when 2G waves are turned off.