Earlier this week, it was revealed that smartphone penetration has reached 72 per cent in the UK, and we often hear about developing markets like India, where feature phones are still king – but what about those countries in the middle, like Thailand?

According to GfK, smartphone sales have more than doubled in the last two years, with smartphones accounting for 42 per cent of overall volume sales in the last 12 months. 

Feature phones are still in the majority, then, but demand has been falling – sales volume dropped by 11 per cent over the same period, and their share of revenues has dropped to 15 per cent from 30 per cent – while smartphone adoption is forecast to see growth of at least 70 per cent over the next year.

A familiar story, perhaps, but whats particularly interesting about Thailands case is the difference between regions. The fastest growth has come from the countrys northeast region, with smartphone sales during the first four months of 2013 increasing by 344 per cent year-on-year. That dwarves growth in the central (17 per cent) and western (11 per cent) regions.

“Although the northeast region is the largest in term of population and size, it is the least developed and has the lowest average income in Thailand, and the low wage has propelled some of the natives to head out to other parts of the country to find better paying jobs,” said Wichit Purepong, managing director for GfK in Thailand. “However, the establishment of new industrial estates after the heavy flooding of 2011 has attracted the labour force back to the northeast, fuelling higher demand, in this case for smartphones, since mid-2012.”

Another key reason, according to GfK, is the availability of cheaper low-end smartphones in the region. In the affluent area around Bangkok, the average price of a handset is $300, compared to $230 in the northeast.