MOBILE and broadband network intelligence company Ookla said consumers in the Philippines have a handful of top fifth-generation (5G) devices they can upgrade to, including Samsung and Huawei handsets.
Ookla, the network testing company behind Speedtest, said there is no statistical winner for the fastest 5G device in the Philippines for the third quarter, but there are many 5G devices that Filipinos can upgrade to.
“The Samsung Galaxy A53 had a median 5G download speed at 199.90 Megabits per second (Mbps), the Huawei Nova 7 5G was at 192.80 Mbps, the Huawei Nov 7 SE 5G at 188.32 Mbps, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G at 185.85 Mbps, and the Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G at 183.54 Mbps,” Ookla said in an e-mailed statement.
Ookla said it used Speedtest Intelligence to look at 5G performance data in 10 countries, including the Philippines, with the highest number of connected mobile devices.
Market intelligence firm International Data Corp. (IDC) announced recently that smartphone shipments to the Philippines significantly declined in the third quarter of the year as a result of inflation and recent typhoons.
Shipments “declined by 8% quarter on quarter and 6.8% annually, bringing in 3.9 million units in the third quarter,” IDC said in its report.
Recent typhoons and inflation hurt both consumers and vendors, according to the market intelligence firm.
The top five smartphone brands in the Philippines in terms of market share in the third quarter were realme (23.4%), Transsion (15.8%), Samsung (15.6%), OPPO (15.5%), and vivo (13.2%).
“Vendors took a more conservative approach by clearing inventories, maintaining prices of existing models, and sustaining momentum by bringing in more affordable smartphones,” IDC Philippines Market Analyst Angela Jenny V. Medez noted.
Inflation accelerated to 7.7% in October, the fastest pace in nearly 14 years, as the prices of food and utilities continue to rise. In the first 10 months, headline inflation averaged 5.4%, faster than the central bank’s 2-4% target but below its 5.8% forecast for the year.
“The last quarter of the year is the peak sales period for smartphones, buoyed by holiday buying,” Ms. Medez said.
“But as inflation is expected to linger and peak towards the end of year, we anticipate an annual shipment decline towards the end of 2022,” she added. — Arjay L. Balinbin
