The top 10 mobile phone brands in Asia-Pacific

We caress and cradle them. We spend hours lovingly gazing at them. We freak out if an accident befalls them. We get anxious when they're not within arm's reach for more than a few minutes. We sometimes devote more time to them than we do to our loved ones. Then we get sick of them and pine over—then splash out lavishly on—newer, sexier ones that come along.

Whether you think they're miraculous machines that benefit humanity, or devilish devices that drain our very souls (surely they're both of these things), smartphones are a major part of life for a high percentage of the people on the planet. You can easily find more stats than you could ever need about smartphone sales, but what brands do people in Asia believe to be the best? That's what we're here to find out.

The following facts about Asia's favourite mobile-phone brands are derived from the 2021 edition of Campaign Asia-Pacific's exclusive Asia's Top 1000 Brands research, done in partnership with Nielsen IQ. The region's most comprehensive research on consumer brand perception, Asia's Top 1000 Brands asks consumers in 14 Asia-Pacific markets to name the brands they consider the best in 15 major product and service categories. From this, we compile the overall Asia's Top 1000 Brands ranking, a list of the top 100 brands in each market, and a variety of features and category-based reports like this one.

Without further ado...

ASIA's TOP 10 MOBILE PHONE BRANDS

Brand	2021	2020	Change
Apple	1	2	1
Samsung	2	1	-1
Huawei	3	7	4
Google	4	3	-1
Oppo	5	5	0
Sony	6	4	-2
Xiaomi	7	12	5
Vivo	8	11	3
OnePlus	9	13	4
Nokia	10	6	-4

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Stop being distracted by your phone (unless you're using it to read this) and scroll through these nuggets of information about the market-specific rankings of Asia's favourite phone brands.

Apple of Asia's eye? - Despite its top ranking on a regional basis, Apple is No. 1 in only three markets; its top regional ranking derives from the fact that it's No. 2 in every other market we survey: 

• No. 1: Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan
• No. 2: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand

Samsung's spotty reception? - Despite finishing No. 2 on a regional basis, Samsung has the top ranking in far more markets than Apple (10 versus three) and ranks No. 2 in two others. Weakness in just a couple of key markets keeps it from beating out Apple for the regional top spot.

• No. 1: Australia, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
• No. 2: Hong Kong, Taiwan
• No. 4: China
• No. 6: Japan

Huawei hangs on - Despite the challenges it has faced, the brand is still China's favourite and holds on to top-10 spots in several other markets:

• No. 1: China
• No. 7: Malaysia, Singapore
• No. 8: Hong Kong, New Zealand, Philippines

Google's reputation - Though not a common sight on Asia's streets by any means, the brand's PIxel phones clearly have a strong reputation (recall that the survey methodology asks people to name the "best" brand):

• No. 3: Australia, Singapore
• No. 4: India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam
• No. 5: Indonesia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand

Oppo's ascent - The China-made brand ranks fifth regionally due to a number of top-5 finishes in specific markets:

• No. 3: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam
• No. 4: Singapore
• No. 5: China, India  

Additional top-5 rankings in specific markets:

Sony:

• No. 2: Japan
• No. 3: Hong Kong, Taiwan
• No. 4: Australia, New Zealand

Xiaomi:

• No. 3: China
• No. 5: Hong Kong

Vivo:

• No. 4: Philippines, Thailand
• No. 5: Vietnam

OnePlus:

• No. 3: India

Nokia:

• No. 3: New Zealand
• No. 4: Indonesia
• No. 5: Australia, Korea

LG:

• No. 3: Korea

Asus:

• No. 4: Taiwan
• No. 5: Philippines, Singapore

Panasonic:

• No. 5: Japan, Malaysia

Sharp:

• No. 3: Japan

Motorola:

• No. 5: Korea

That's all, TTYL.

This article is filed under... Top 10: Asia-Pacific's favourite brands in specific product and service categories