Are we near at the end of local smartphone brands in the Philippines?
Smartphones are all around us, every Juan pretty much has the capability to have a smartphone despite coming from various walks of life. In short, smartphones have become our commodities. This is due to various budget-friendly smartphones being offered anywhere and everywhere around the country.
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With that, locally branded phones take this opportunity to shine through the hearts of millions of hardworking Pinoys that couldn’t afford to purchase a high-end smartphone. People have started patronizing the brands that originated here. However, it has started to change–seemingly so–after the entry of major Chinese players.
Why are the local brands slowly dying out?
With Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, Asus, and various Chinese companies slowly and methodically taking over the Philippine budget smartphone market, it seems that the local brands are in dire danger of being left out.
There are many possible reasons for that including the slow adaptation of local leaders on bringing the right commodities of people. Perhaps, another more plausible one is how these Chinese companies have all the resources in the world while local brands themselves are thought to rebrand rely on some smartphone manufacturers from China.
It could also be somewhat related to financial and quality factors. True for Huawei, it is considered to be one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world and it has the machinery needed to penetrate the local market. Meanwhile, Xiaomi is a prime example of a company that provides smartphones with excellent specs and with a very easy-to-grasp price range. For Oppo, it dictates high pricing for its devices by pouring a lot of money in marketing such as how they bought a lot of spaces inside the shopping malls. Asus, on the other hand, is on the rise and has become a respectable brand for power users in a budget.
See also: Top reasons why you shouldn’t patronize local brands
Contrary to these major mobile brands, local smartphone companies don’t exactly make their own smartphones, they purchase them via trade-off from China. They rely quite a lot on foreign resources while other companies like Huawei and Xiaomi easily have theirs in the bag. With the resources and slow approach of the Chinese companies, these major brands outside the country could eventually take control the major PH smartphone market.
Could local brands survive?
The local brands are slowly losing the majority of shares in the Philippine mobile market. With this, can they even stand a chance against the ongoing market invasion?
Despite with their remaining resources and market portion, which is at P5,000 and below, I still believe they will not last long enough. Their days are numbered and even true to a few major brands. This is sad, but inevitable since only those brands who can keep up with the changing demands for commodities would likely remain.
With that in mind, we leave the rest to you guys, the buyer, and patron of local brands. What else could the local brands do? Share us any possible insights that may help, also, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this little topic, simply hit us up on the comment section below.
J. B. Jardinico contributed on this post.
i agree that local phone companies like starmobile, cloudfone, skk, firefly and kata are slowly going the way of the dinosaur. but cherry mobile and myphone still have a chance to redeem themselves and eventually survive, even flourish. at a time when chinese companies are invading the local market with bang-for-the-buck phones that budget-conscious filipinos are only too willing to embrace, cherry and myphone must fight back. there’s no other way around it. how? by beating the chinese/international brands at their own game.
1. offer phones that have the same specs, if not better, than the competition, at lower prices. huwag makipagsabayan ng presyo sa mga international brands. if they know there are upcoming phones like asus zenfone 3 that filipinos are eagerly waiting for, they should come up with their own models having better specs but cheaper. focus on phones with long-lasting batteries, large internal storage with expandable options, good cameras, and processors built for gaming.
2. aside from good internals and software, aesthetics and design are also important. take a look at myphone. they are so stubborn in keeping that philippine map at the back when people nowadays want their phones to be sleek and attention-grabbing because of looks. make the design minimalist yet attractive. don’t splash the company logo all around the phone.
3. offer accessories. filipinos love to accessorize their phones, not only for protection but also as a matter of personal preference. there are many phones that have no corresponding accessories here. kung meron man, ang hirap hanapin and of poor quality.
4. offer freebies like tempered glass, cases, earphones, or even extra batteries.
5. and of course, put premium on build quality, excellent customer service, and timely software updates.
cherry mobile and myphone, and other local phone companies for that matter, need not obtain the services of high-profile celebrities in order to sell their products. a great product will sell by word of mouth because of happy customers.
Easier said than done, but I agree for the most part. It would do good for CM and MyPhone to copy Xiaomi’s business model. Xiaomi is able to sell phones with flagship-like features at affordable prices in part because they rely on online sales networks instead of physical stores. A Xiaomi phone that cost $86 to make, for example, is sold at just around $115, but they still generate a huge amount of revenue because they are able to sell millions of units per model. Here in our country, my perception is that local phone companies want to make as large a profit as possible per unit sold. That’s wrong business mentality. Kikita pa rin naman sila kung madami mabebenta nilang units. Tapos huwag na kumuha ng mga endorsers na artista na obviously mahal ang talent fee. I agree with the word of mouth. Pag gusto ng tao ang produkto mo, bibilhin yan and not because it is endorsed by a certain popular actor/actress, as if naman ginagamit ng mga yan ang ini-endorse nila.
Agree on the last statement. ‘Yan din madalas kong sabihin everytime na napapanood ko sa commercial yang mga yan e. Kadalasan kasi, puro naka-iPhone talaga yan.
Good points lahat. May i-add lang ako sa part about local celebrities. Why do they hire these people to endorse their brands when these celebrities most likely have iPhones or high-end Androids para sa kanilang personal use? Niloloko lang tayo na kesyo gumagamit sila ng local brands.
MyPhone is doing good with their “makabayan” theme while cherry mobile is still doing good naman kaso the latter is “likely” receiving complaints after sales. I sold my lenovo a6000 to purchase myphone my33 with great consideration on specs than brand name. 2nd, 3999 versus almost 7000 is really a difference. Local brands can still do good in the market only if they pay great attention to after sales (I believe). Malaking factor na yung presyo but per experience sa my33 ko hindi naman ako nagsisi. I also think na makakatulong if they educate pinoys pagdating sa specs ng mga phones. 🙂
Just a comment on that part about educating Pinoys regarding phone specs. Anecdotal lang ang evidence ko lahat, but marinig ko sa malls and jeepneys that when two people are talking about smartphones, meron talagang ma-mention na specs. Like yung isang girl tinarayan pa yung kasama nya na wag bumili ng model x kasi ICS pa daw ang OS, kelangan at least Lollipop na. Wala lang. Na-happy lang ako when naririnig ko ang mga storyang ganun dahil meaning slowly but surely nagiging mas educated na ang mga tao at nagiging smart consumers. 🙂
if only our local brands can compete and survive in a 6-month software and hardware performance. but its either theyll die. or survive but bullied. get my point?