Sales of feature phones declined sharply last year though the numbersold was still higher than that of smartphones, the Saigon Times Dailyreported, citing data released by retailers.

Figures of The GioiDi Dong Investment Joint Stock Company showed feature phones dropped 15percent in revenue and 5 percent in volume compared to the previousyears. This type of phone accounted for 35 percent of the total mobilephone sales volume but a mere 10 percent of revenues.

Earlier,market research company GfK Vietnam reported that feature phones made up51 percent of the cellphones bought by customers in the third quarterof last year and smartphones took the rest, but their sales proportionswere 13 percent and 87 percent respectively.

GfK estimated around400,000 mobile phones were consumed a week in the January-Septemberperiod last year, and the number for the entire year at 21 millionproducts.

According to retailers, Nokia still dominated thefeature phone segment while Samsung topped the smartphone segment lastyear. The Gioi Di Dong said Nokia accounted for 60 percent of thecellphones sold at its stores and the best-selling products were Nokia105, 106 and 107.

Mobile phone retailer FPT Shop said thesmartphones of medium and high categories sold well in the final monthsof last year as only two feature phone types, namely Nokia 105 and Nokia225, were the 10 best-selling items in the period.

Mobile phoneretail chains such as The Gioi Di Dong, Vien Thong A, Nguyen Kim, andFPT Shop are now focusing resources on capitalizing on strong demand forsmartphones at their large shops and feature phones at small shops.-VNA