Samsung nearly doubled, Vinamilk surpassed Xiaomi, and the gap between the two leading phone companies is less than one-sixth of Apple's sales.

According to a report by the Metric.vn data mining and synthesis platform, Apple is still the brand with the highest sales on Vietnamese e-commerce platforms in the third quarter of 2026, with about 1,923 billion VND. However, this is also the only brand in the top 10 whose sales decreased compared to the same period last year, with a decrease of 23.35%.

Metric's data is from July 1 to September 30, 2026 on 4 platforms: Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada and Tiki, filtering virtual orders and gift products. During the quarter, total sales of 4 floors reached 150.4 trillion VND, an increase of 45.16%. Among the top 10 brands, 9 brands showed positive growth, only Apple decreased.

Samsung is close, Vinamilk squeezes into the top 3

Samsung ranked second with 1,631 billion VND, an increase of 98.70%. In the third quarter of 2025, Apple reached VND 2,509 billion and Samsung VND 821 billion, the two companies are about VND 1,690 billion apart. A year later, the gap was only about 290 billion VND, equivalent to less than 16% of Apple's sales.

Xiaomi reached 830 billion VND, an increase of 68.25%, but still dropped from third place in the first half of the year to fourth place. The third position belongs to Vinamilk with 954 billion VND, an increase of 225.86%. The rest of the top 10 includes Top Gia, Cocoon, Huggies, Ensure, Colorkey and L'Oréal Paris, each brand reaching from 429 to 682 billion VND.

While Apple decreased, the entire Phone and Tablet industry on 4 exchanges still increased by 38.1%, reaching VND 8,335.4 billion. The industry's increased share belongs to other firms. This trend is not new: Metric's first quarter 2026 report recorded Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi and Honor growing faster than the group's average, in which Samsung increased by 150% and Honor increased by 347%.

Last year's high

Metric does not disclose the reasons for each brand, but the numbers themselves show that Apple is being placed next to a very high mark. In the third quarter of 2025, Apple's sales increased by 72.2% to VND 2,509 billion, about 25% higher than the average quarterly level of the first half of that year.

In 2026, Apple reached VND 4,035 billion in the first 6 months of the year, an increase of only 0.77% over the same period, meaning sales were flat before the third quarter began. With 1,923 billion VND, the third quarter of 2026 is only about 5% lower than the average quarterly level of the first half of this year, which is about 2,018 billion VND. Mentally calculating from these figures, most of the 23.35% decrease comes from having to compare to an outstanding third quarter of 2025, but third quarter 2026 sales do not fall too far from Apple's normal sales rhythm. The calculation does not exclude seasonal factors, so it is for reference only.

That high level is also difficult to come from a new iPhone. Also according to Metric, iPhone 17 only earned 114.8 billion VND on 4 exchanges in the first month of sale, equal to 38% compared to iPhone 16 in the same period. Less than two weeks of sales in the third quarter of 2025 is just a fraction of this number.

iPhone 18 Pro comes in late and is more expensive

iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max opened for pre-order from September 12 and went on sale from September 18, so there are only about 13 days of sale in the third quarter. For the second year in a row, Vietnam is among the earliest markets to open for sale, so this time is not much different from last year, when the iPhone 17 went on sale on September 19.

The other point lies in the machine structure. This year, Apple did not release the standard iPhone 18 version, the first batch only had two Pro versions. iPhone Duo, the first folding iPhone model, opens for pre-order from October 16 and goes on sale from October 23, which is in the fourth quarter. Prices are also higher: iPhone 18 Pro from 38.99 million VND, iPhone 18 Pro Max from 41.99 million VND, both about 4 million VND higher than the original listing price of the previous generation.

Metric's third quarter report does not separate Apple sales by model, so the decrease cannot be attributed to any single factor. A market assessment in early October also said that purchasing power for iPhone 18 Pro increased slightly compared to iPhone 17 Pro at the same period after launch.

Samsung benefits from folding device season

On Samsung's side, the Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Ultra and Z Flip8 trio launched on July 22, mid-third quarter. Samsung Vietnam said that after 6 days of opening pre-orders, the number of orders was 2.4 times that of the previous generation, with Z Fold8 alone accounting for more than half. This number of applications has not been separated from the e-commerce channel, but is in the same direction as the trend Metric recorded: the product group over 1 million VND increased the proportion of total market sales from 14.5% to 19.0%, while the Galaxy Z Fold8 listed from 46.99 million VND.

The brand data of Samsung and Xiaomi also includes household appliances, the industry increased by 51.4% in the quarter, so the increase of the two companies did not only come from phones. Samsung also did not accelerate suddenly in the third quarter: in the first half of the year, the company reached VND 2,938 billion, an increase of 142.48%.

All 10 brands combined reached about 8,515 billion VND, accounting for about 5.7% of sales on 4 floors. Apple alone, the leading brand, accounts for about 1.3%. In the Phone and Tablet industry, Shopee accounts for 72.1% of the total proportion of Shopee and TikTok Shop. The keyword "iPhone case" still ranked second in the list of most searched searches on Shopee in the third quarter, with 6.95 million times.

For the fourth quarter, Metric forecasts that sales on 4 floors will reach 165.5 trillion VND, an increase of 10.05% compared to the third quarter, of which November 11 and December 12 are two major promotions. This is the first quarter that Apple has full time selling iPhone 18 Pro, plus iPhone Duo from October 23. As of the end of October, the iPhone 18 Pro Max 256 GB version was still listed at VND 41.99 million at major chains, with some selling points reduced by VND 500,000.