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| The MyPhone Iceberg loses the Philippine maps on the back, and replaces it with an aluminum case back. |
Locally branded phones have been making brisk sales by offering very good specifications at low prices. They cost between half to a third of what you get from established international brands like Samsung, Apple, HTC, Sony and LG.
Several local brands have gone up-market. First, we saw the O+ 8.15. This 5-inch HD quad core smartphone hit the market at Php12,990 with an 8 GB MicroSD card as part of the bundle. While some may argue that O+ is a US brand, it really only sells phones in the Philippines.
Then we saw the Starmobile Knight. This super slim 7.5 mm thin, 4.7-inch HD quad core smartphone hit the shelves at Php11,290. It comes with a screen protector, jelly case and 8 GB MicroSD card, which add up to about 1K in value. In a few days, MyPhone is bringing us the 5.7-inch quad core Iceberg, which sports an aluminum case and 16 GB of internal storage, for Php11,976. MyPhone seems a bit wary about the high price point and is releasing the Iceberg on launch day being offered at 12-months zero interest.
At the same time, established Chinese brands like Huawei and ZTE are offering up stiff competition with the 4.5-inch quad core Huawei Ascend G525, at Php6,990, and the 5-inch quad core ZTE V987 Grand X Quad at Php11,500.
Is there a market for these locally branded phones testing the water above 10K?
It's all marketing.
ReplyDeleteYou have an expensive flagship phone so that there's some pricing cushion for all your cheaper products which you move in great volumes. The flagship is just there for advertising and tech blog review purposes, they don't expect to sell the most of them.
What's interesting with all this is that Cherry Mobile doesn't seem to have an expensive flagship phone. They're promoting the heck out of the Razor, but it's neither their most pricey smartphone or the highest spec.
So I'm guessing they're either letting the other local companies hog the spotlight for now and come out with their own expensive flagship later this year, or Cherry doesn't want to participate at all and is just interested in moving volume cheaper phones.
Rejoice, the Philippine map is gone! I can finally consider MyPhone when I'm getting a new phone.
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