It’s time to talk about the most popular smartphone brands in the country and their secret to success
The Philippines is such a tech-oriented country, with a population of an estimated 115 million and counting, we ended up mostly in the top five of most users such as Facebook, YouTube (and even adult websites).
But your social media consumption dictates what kind of smartphone you are using. And today, we’ll round out the most popular smartphone brands here in the PH!
THE TOP FIVE (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
OPPO
Anchored with their bombastic marketing strategies, partnership with celebrities, and leaning into premium design aesthetics, OPPO continues to be a strong suit for many consumers out there.
This is the first but certainly not the last BBK sub-brand here to be featured here.
OPPO has a long way to go from being a glorified DVD player brand up to this day, and you can’t escape its brand presence anywhere you go. With their sleek looks and a sense of pride in owning an OPPO device, this is aimed more at professionals who will use it for work or a fully-fledged daily driver.
They have almost the same stores as Samsung in the Philippines same as its BBK cousins, so availing one of their phones isn’t a hassle. As for their prices, OPPO isn’t exactly synonymous with affordability, but they have a couple of offerings under that category. But if you want the full OPPO experience, you should settle with their mid to flagship range phones.
Transsion
Now you may ask, who the heck is Transsion? You don’t see any Transsion-branded devices even in the wild so what exactly is this company? The truth is, it’s hiding in plain sight in the form of Infinix, Tecno, and Itel.
Now we’re talking: Infinix seems to be the middle-of-the-road brand of Transsion that aims on delivering competitive gaming-centric phones for gamers on a budget and people who just wants a reliable device for half the price of the usual smartphone choices from more well-known brands such as Samsung, Huawei, and more.
Itel however, is torn between two sections: feature phones or a.k.a. keypad device, and lower spec offering such as their Vision series which typically sways around 2 or 3GB of RAM and either 16, 32 or 64GB of storage. Itel aims for the extreme entry-level phone, or for those people who will use their phones for social media, casual usage, and other light tasks. People seeking a secondary device for work are also the target market of this Transsion sub-brand.
TECNO on the other hand is Transsion’s quirky, innovative, and ‘flagship’ brand of them all. Aiming for a daily driver approach with unique designs and a more designer feel, this brand’s target market is professionals who want a reliable daily phone– but sometimes, they also dabble into creating phones for gamer types, specifically the POVA Series.
As for their design choices, Infinix’s aesthetics tread between loud, quirky, and youthful. TECNO however, is more mature, elegant, and precise on what they want but occasionally, they know how to hang out with their core audience: gamers. Itel’s design choices are more barebones, simple, and inoffensive. There are kiosks, and a few service centers scattered around the country so having one isn’t much of a problem.
But what makes them successful? Value-for-money, timely and even futuristic designs, and competitive specs make the brand the rising alternative choice for many consumers in the country. With 16% of market shares right now, we’re projecting that this number will go up even higher in the future.
Sadly, their subpar software, OS filled with bloatware aftersales support, and lack of continuous security and major OS updates is a major deterrent to a large number of consumers on choosing to buy their products.
vivo
If OPPO is the classy, more elegant sibling– then vivo is the extroverted older one. The BBK sub-brand is the mastermind for some of the most experimental, quirky, and innovative models of the past five years.
vivo is what you can call the ‘everybody’s phone’ because they have something for everyone regardless of their social status. vivo juggles between flagship, mid-range, and budget offerings but they rarely put up a very niche category such as a ‘gaming phone’.
As for its physical presence, vivo continues to lean more on the physical store experience, inviting consumers to personally check the units for themselves than ordering online. As for the availability and service, you can’t go wrong with vivo’s support when it comes to concept stores and the like.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi is a breath of fresh air for the PH market, delivering the same kind of service as the first three above but with much more independence and confidence than any other.
You’re a gamer? There’s the POCO sub-brand. Want more fun with your smartphone? The Redmi series is there to guide you. How about stability, brand recognition, and premiumness? That’s Xiaomi. So far, they are the most reliable brand that’s not a BBK brand after all.
Aside from that, they are also selling more than just smartphones. They have fans, a TV, pet accessories, scooters, and even a rice cooker. Sadly, their dead boot issues with their software muddled them with controversy. But with 2,000 stores scattered all over the country, replacing and/or repairing it is a breeze, and if that isn’t enough, they have partnered with third-party repair City Lights for accreditation.
realme
The top one based on Canalys’ results as of now, is the BBK sub-brand (again) is the more lively brand aiming more at creating a budget or mid-range experience for the common consumer.
Striking a balance between usability and strong community support, realme’s recipe for success lies in its marketing prowess. With actual software updates, revolutionary designs, and overall competent pricing that’s not too cheap or too expensive.
As with all BBK sub-brands: purchases, replacements, and repair isn’t a headache due to their established stores present in almost every mall in the country.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Samsung
Long before the Korean craze, the tech manufacturing juggernaut is home to some of the appliances and tech many regular people are using in their everyday lives.
But their fridge, oven, and various tech aren’t as popular as their smartphone and it shows: their veteran status in the mobile device game just keeps getting better and better which each passing day. Developing a well-refined design in their entry and mid-range level offering, and firing on all cylinders on their flagships, Samsung for sure knows how to create a well-made phone that will sell.
The brand provides multiple choices across different price points with trendy looks, competitive software, and the assurance of getting a device from a well-reputable company showing Samsung no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Sadly, aftersales support is lacking here and many consumers rely on third-party repair to fix their Samsung products.
The main factor: is the price over specs ratio– in which they offer multiple good variants for consumers, but because of their reputation, you need to pay a little more, which is kinda bad right now for what their reputation cultivated in the past decade here.
And nowadays in this era where everything is expensive and golden, folks may rather settle for new brands that offer better or the same features that are much cheaper than Samsung would offer.
Huawei
Design-wise, they have some of the best out there. Innovation, count on them with having the best camera to date with their Mate50 Pro. The price however is too expensive with how their reputation fell apart because of the whole surveillance fiasco so we can’t really recommend the brand that hard today.
So that’s it for now, any suggestions or personal opinions regarding this article? We would love to know your opinion about it on our official Facebook page.
