The International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates that smartphone demand in the Philippines slowed in the first quarter of 2022, despite an earlier forecast projecting healthy growth for the smartphone industry until 2022.
During the time, 3.9 million units were sold in the Philippines, reflecting a year-over-year (YoY) loss of 7.1 percent and a quarterly (QoQ) decline of 21.6 percent, respectively.
“While 5G smartphones accounted for over 20% of total sales in 1Q22, 4G Android smartphones declined 16.3% YoY and 24.4 percent QoQ due to supply constraints, with smartphones priced under USD 200 being the hardest hit,” stated Angela Medez, Client Devices Market Analyst at IDC Philippines.
“Supply disruptions are projected to make it difficult for vendors to fulfill their expectations for 2022,” Medez said, “although we may see some improvements toward the end of the year.” “As vendors focus on their 5G portfolio to drive development, the silver lining might be the acceleration of 5G devices in the Philippines.”
Realme has maintained the greatest market share of 20.2 percent for the past five quarters. While realme’s market share is still above 20% (it was 20.6 percent in Q4 2021), the annual decline is in the double digits at 11.6 percent.
Transsion, which owns Tecno and Infinix, has climbed to second place with 19.8% of the vote. Their 5G phones were evidently well received in the Philippines, as they accounted for 11% of all 5G phone shipments to the country. Infinix has ambitions to expand its offline presence outside of the Manila area, according to IDC.
Samsung also improved its position, coming in third with 16.8% of the vote. Their market share increase was noticeable, with a quarterly increase of 2.4 percent and an annual increase of 7.6 percent.
Xiaomi, which owns the Redmi and POCO brands, returns to the top five this quarter. It ranked fourth in the IDC list with a 14.2 percent market share, indicating double-digit growth on both a yearly and quarterly basis. 4G cellphones accounted for nearly 90% of the company’s shipments.
Meanwhile, OPPO is falling faster than realme. The debut of its Reno7 boosted its 5G share, accounting for 17.7% of overall shipments in Q1 2022, putting it in sixth place.
More than 350 suppliers are covered by the IDC Mobile Quarterly Phone Tracker, which is available in over 100 countries. Historical data, up to two years of quarterly forecasts, and three years of annual market estimates are all included in this tracker’s forecasts. The full quarterly report for Q1 2022 may be seen here.
While IDC predicts a recovery in the smartphone industry later this year, with sales of 5G ready handsets starting up, Opensignal’s Mobile Network Experience Report from April demonstrates that there is still a lot of work to be done in spreading 5G coverage in the Philippines.
“When it comes to 5G availability, Smart has the best results, taking first place in three of the four regions — Calabarzon, Central Luzon, and Metropolitan Manila — and tied for first place in Central Visayas with Globe. The story for 5G Reach is essentially similar, with the exception that Globe and Smart are tied for first place in Metropolitan Manila,” according to the research.
Opensignal saw Smart and Globe fighting for 5G availability and reach among Filipinos, citing the fact that third mobile operator DITO has yet to commercially deploy its 5G service.
Metro Manila has the highest 5G availability for Smart, with 5G customers connecting 19.7% of the time. In instance, the national average for Smart would be 14.4 percent. Globe, on the other hand, scored 13.3 percent in Central Visayas for 5G availability. This is in contrast to the national average of 8.8%.
In terms of 5G coverage, Smart has a lesser edge of 4.4 points, with 10 being the best, compared to Globe’s 3.5 points. As of 2021, South Korean telecom companies varied from 6.2 (KT, LG U+) to 6.6 (SK Telecom) on this scale, while telecom providers in the United States ranged from 3.7 (Verizon) to 7.4 (T-Mobile).
5G availability, according to Opensignal, is the percentage of time that Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection. 5G reach, on the other hand, examines how consumers perceive the geographic scope of a 5G network.