Tablet sales in Vietnam rose by 233 per cent in first half of 2013, according to figures from GfK. The surge in demand was fuelled by falling prices, with the average cost of a tablet falling by 25 per cent in six months.
294,000 tablets have been sold in Vietnam in the last 12 months, 206,000 of these in the past six months, generating sales of $94m (£60m). The overall worth of the local tablet market has by 160 per cent in H1, 2013, compared to H1, 2012.
“Although the market in Vietnam is relatively smaller and less technologically advanced when compared to the other countries in Southeast Asia, tablets have already started appealing to the mass (sic), with sales picking up and growing at a rapid pace,” said GfK Vietnam managing director, Van Tran Khoa. “The rising prevalence of this device in recent times is largely driven by its lowering prices over the recent years, which makes it more and more affordable.” 
GfK’s retail audit tracking reveals an apparent steady downtrend in the average price of tablets, since the service launched in Vietnam at the beginning of 2012. The highest point of $512 was reported in December 2012, since when the average selling price of tablets has dropped by 25 percent to hover around $385 in the in the latest June 2013 report.
As elsewhere in the region, consumers are showing a preference for Android-based tablets. These accounted for 59 per cent of tablets sold in the country in 2012, but that figure has risen to 64 per cent in the first half of 2013. Brand preference among Vietnamese consumers is widening: in the first half of 2012, a high proportion of came from fewer than 10 brands. So far in 2013, Vietnamese consumers have bought from 16 manufacturers.
