Philippines smartphone market declines

The Philippines smartphone market declined by 8.6% year-on-year as manufacturers shipped 16.3 million units in 2022, as consumer and vendor confidence was hit by macroeconomic conditions.

Q4 of 2022 registered a decline of 16.3% as vendors focused in the quarter on clearing out inventories instead of bringing in new shipments during the holiday season “due to unfavourable conditions”.

IDC Philippines senior market analyst Angela Medez said: “Both consumer and vendor confidence has been seriously dampened as inflation progressively soared throughout 2022 ending the year at a 14-year high.”

Chinese manufacturer Realme was the highest shipping company in 2022 after it launched several new smartphones for price-conscious consumers, but it saw a 5.9% decline to 3.72 million units, taking 22.8% market share.

Transsion, the parent of smartphone brands Tecno, Itel and Infinix, was the only top-five vendor to see growth with a year-on-year increase of 18.3% to 2.92 million – plus a market share of 17.9%. IDC noted the company launched more models in the price range of US$100 and above, as well as catering to entry-level device consumers.

Oppo suffered the greatest decline in the top five with a 12.3% decline to 2.3 million, Samsung was in fourth with 2.2 million units an 8.2% decline and finally, Xiaomi shipped 1.86 million in 2022, a 3.3% dip.

« Though inventory levels started to normalize towards the end of 2022, IDC is lowering its forecast for 2023 as vendors will remain cautious in their shipments amid the looming economic uncertainties and accelerating inflation, » Medez added.

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