Samsung Leads Southeast Asia Smartphone Market in Q1 2025

Samsung’s smartphone business has had a solid first quarter of 2025. The company led the global market, reclaiming the top spot in Southeast Asia in the process. It rode on the back of the Galaxy S25 flagships and the Galaxy A series to emerge as the top smartphone vendor in the region.

Samsung achieved the top position with a 19% market share

According to Canalys (now part of Omdia), Southeast Asia’s smartphone market declined by 3% to 22.8 million shipments in Q1 2025. This is the first drop after five consecutive quarters of annual growth. Due to inflationary pressures, the market saw a lower demand, mainly in the entry-level and mid-range segments.

Samsung also suffered a decline, shipping 4.3 million smartphones in Q1 2025, which is less than the 4.5 million shipments around the same time last year. However, the company maintained its market share at 19%, the same as in the previous year. These strong figures helped it to secure the top position in the region.

It’s worth noting that Samsung was the market leader in Southeast Asia for several years until Q2 2024. In Q3 and Q4, it lost the top spot to Oppo and Transsion, respectively. In fact, Samsung dropped to the fourth spot in the year-ending quarter, with Xiaomi leapfrogging it. The Korean firm has now reclaimed the crown.

“Samsung has traditionally led in the 5G-capable device segment and its focus on delivering improved value and deepening telco partnerships has paid off,” said Canalys Senior Analyst Sheng Win Chow. The company saw strong performance due to high sales of its popular 5G Galaxy A series models, which increased by 47% compared to last year.

Samsung aims to sell high-end smartphones in the market and move away from the entry-level segment. And the recent growth shows the company is on the right track, despite current challenges in the ultra-low-end market.

As of now, the smartphone market in Southeast Asia is encountering many challenges, such as global trade tensions, currency fluctuation, political uncertainty, and inflation. Higher costs for imports will force the brand to increase the price of smartphones. However, Samsung has an opportunity to cater to the market as a large portion of smartphone production occurs in Vietnam.