PH records spike in smartphone sales

The Philippines was the fourth-biggest market in terms of smartphone sales volume in the first quarter as regional growth was still dominated by Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, a statement from Singapore’s GfK showed Thursday.

GfK said Philippine smartphone sales rose 11 percent to $419 million, with volume in terms of units up 24 percent to over two million during the period.

Gains were also seen across the region.

GfK said in a statement that sales volume continued to break records month after month to reflect continued “staggering growth” of 43 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2013.

In value terms, the popular gadget generated nearly $4.2 billion within January to March this year—25 percent more compared to a year ago.

“Demand for mobile handsets is stabilizing, but we continue to see consistent deepening of smartphone penetration in this region,” said Gerard Tan, Account Director for Digital World at GfK Asia.

“More than half the market today is contributed by smartphones and the trend will be sustained as the switchover in emerging markets takes precedence,” he said.

The top three growth markets for smartphones according to sales volume in the first quarter were Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, which reported 68, 59 and 45 percent increased sales, respectively.

Indonesia is also the largest market with consumers there buying over 7.3 million units or two-fifth of the region’s smartphones.

Meanwhile, phablets, or large smartphones with screen size measuring over 5.6 inches, have become increasingly sought after.

Over 1.1 million units worth a total of $567 million have been sold, with Malaysia and Indonesia being the biggest markets for this sector.

“Several popular international brands have officially announced the launch of a number of flagship models in the next two quarters of this year, and this could likely be holding consumers back from their purchases in anticipation of the new models,” commented Tan.