Cell phones and accessories export value in Vietnam 2016-2021

In 2021, Vietnam exported over 57.5 billion U.S. dollars’ worth of mobile phones and phone accessories, indicating a recovery from the export value for these products compared to the year before. Before 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started, the export value of Vietnamese phones and phone accessories had been increasing steadily year on year.

Mobile phones - Vietnam’s most valuable export commodity

Phones and phone parts played a major role in Vietnam’s success story as an export-oriented economy. For a few years in a row, the value of export of these products surpassed all other made-in-Vietnam commodities, including computers, garments and textiles, and wood products. This can be explained by the fact that Vietnam has been Samsung’s biggest production hub outside of South Korea, the tech giant’s home country. The Vietnamese facilities of Samsung have been responsible for over half of the total mobile phone production volume under this brand, and the majority of phone exports are from Vietnam.

Smartphone market in Vietnam

Apart from being one of the leading smartphone producing and exporting countries, Vietnam has one of the highest numbers of users of smartphones worldwide. Although most of the smartphones made in the country were Samsung’s products, Apple has been the market leader among Vietnamese consumers, beating Samsung by a small margin. Affordable smartphone brands such as Oppo, Xiaomi, and Vivo have also been gaining their foothold in the Vietnamese market, targeting younger consumers who look for more budget-friendly smartphone options.