Vietnam spends $3.5 bln on smartphone imports in 2022

Vietnam spent $3.5 billion on importing smartphones in 2022, with iPhones accounting for the biggest portion of $1.61 billion, or 46.05% of the total.

Total import expenditure of smartphones rose 10.5% year-on-year, while that of Apple's iPhones surged 30.58%, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a new report on Vietnam's imports and exports in 2022.

Other top brands included Samsung with $939.4 million, up 8.81% year-on-year; Oppo with $442.4 million, up 3.81%; and Xiaomi with $276.73 million, up 1.3%.

Brands that posted negative growth included Vivo with $112.56 million, down 45.55% year-on-year; and Motorola with $1.62 million, down 48.2%.

Regarding phone component imports, Vietnam's spending reached $17.62 billion, down 3.7% year-on-year.

Last year, Vietnam produced 210.5 million smartphones, down 9.1% year-on-year. Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces, both in northern Vietnam, were Samsung's smartphone production hubs with 102 million and 90 million devices, respectively.

Vietnam earned $33.3 billion from exporting phones in 2022, up 0.67% year-on-year. Of which, Samsung smartphones accounted for 95% of the total, or $31.4 billion.

The ministry said phone exports slowed towards the end of the year due to reduced export orders. In particular, Samsung, the biggest phone manufacturer and exporter in Vietnam, fulfilled only 94% of its export targets last year.

China and the U.S. were the biggest export markets with $16.3 billion and $11.9 billion, accounting for 28% and 22.5% of the total, respectively. Other major markets included the EU with $6.5 billion, or 11.2%; and South Korea with $5.05 billion, or 8.7%.

South Korean tech giant Samsung’s four subsidiaries in Vietnam reported after-tax profits of KRW6.056 trillion ($4.67 billion) in 2022, up 16.28% year-on-year.

The four companies, namely Samsung HCMC CE Complex (SEHC) in Ho Chi Minh City, Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) and Samsung Display Vietnam (SDV) both in Bac Ninh province, and Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen (SEVT) in Thai Nguyen province, recorded revenues of KRW92.032 trillion ($71.02 billion) last year, up 12.18% year-on-year, according to the group’s latest financial statement.