Japan Seeing Growing Demand for Cheap Smartphones

After Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications canceled SIM-lock policy, many mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in Japan have launched many inexpensive SIM-free smartphones. Because of this, Japan-based mobile telecom carriers including NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank Mobile, under competitive pressure, have followed suit, according to a Digitimes report.

This has led to a growing demand for inexpensive SIM-free smartphones in Japan. For one, Asustek Computer's ZenFone series models have been in booming sale, driving Japan-based smartphone vendors including Sony Mobile Communications, Sharp, Fujitsu and Kyocera to seek cooperation with Taiwan-based ODMs to develop and produce inexpensive SIM-free Android smartphones specifically for sale in the Japan market.

This trend is expected to benefit Taiwan-based smartphone ODMs, including Compal Electronics, Arima Communications, Foxconn Electronics, FIH Mobile, Qisda, Inventec, Pegatron and Wistron.