Canalys: PH is still 2nd largest smartphone market in SEA as of Q2

Canalys reported that the Philippines' smartphone market is the 2nd biggest among countries in Southeast Asia.

File photo: realme Narzo 50A

The PH smartphone market grew by 4 percent due to elections

With 24.5M units sold, the total shipment from the said region dropped by 7 percent against Q1

The report said that consumer confidence is impacted by growing inflation even though vendors are working hard to maintain the affordability of the handsets. Canalys Research Analyst Chiew Le Xuan explained,

The demand for 5G devices has come to a standstill. 5G devices experienced their first sequential decline to 18 percent of overall smartphone shipments. 5G deployment in developing Southeast Asian markets has been abysmal ensuring the hype for 5G has dwindled, and demand has shifted to more practical aspects of smartphones such as battery life, storage, processor speed, and camera quality. Growing inflation has resulted in consumers looking for longer-lasting devices over less practical qualities such as 5G. Practical uses of 5G have yet to be seen and are especially unnecessary for low-mid devices when 4G speeds are sufficient in day-to-day usage. 

The market research said that the decrease can be attributed to the performance of the five largest markets in the region. For instance, Malaysia and Indonesia celebrated seasonal festivities like Ramadan but they experience sequential growth of 6 percent and 2 percent respectively. 

The report from Canalys pointed out that Indonesia is still the largest market in SEA, with a 37 percent share and 9.1 million shipments.

Meanwhile, Thailand was affected by severe forex depreciation against the US dollar, hence it had a 14 percent decline. Next, Vietnam's shipment decreased by 20 percent because of consumer uncertainty.

On the other hand, the Philippines market had a 4 percent growth versus the previous quarter due to increased spending during its elections. In fact, the report said that the country maintained its position as the 2nd largest with 4.4M shipments. 

In our earlier report, realme took back the top spot in the PH from Transsion with a 20 percent unit share. The brand was able to penetrate the mass-market segment through its C35 series and Narzo series. 

Source: Canalys