Luxury smartphone operator Vertu has opened a second store in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. The store will sell high-end phones that retail for around VND 135 million, however, the firm’s highest-priced phone runs at VND 12.2 billion or US$479,000.
The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals–persons with a net worth greater than US$30 million–has grown exponentially in recent years. According to Frank Knight estimates, Vietnam had 1,059 of these uber-rich at the end of 2022.
That said, it’s worth noting that Vietnam’s GDP per capita is about US$4,000. Also, by World Bank estimates, about 5 percent of Vietnam’s population was living on less than US$3.20 per day (PPP/2011) in 2020. This serves to highlight the huge disparity in economic development around the country.