Smart gears up for boom in cheap smartphones

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Communications Inc. is gearing up for a boom in the cheap smartphone that is expected to account for more than half of the total mobile phone shipments by 2018.

Kathryn Carag, postpaid marketing head at Smart, said a study conducted by ABI Research showed that phones that retail for $200 approximately P8,000 and below would make up almost half of all smartphone shipments around the world by 2018.

Carag said the device such as the Ascend G610 is predicted to sell as much as 758 million units in five years’ time.

“Owning the latest smartphone with high-end features need not be expensive, as the Huawei Ascend G610 under Smart’s All-In Plan 800 clearly demonstrates,” she stressed.

Smart, a unit of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), is powered by the group’s recently completed P67.1-billion network modernization project.

“Coupled with our ‘nationwidest’ network and high-speed mobile data service, subscribers need not feel shortchanged with the service and options that they get at such an affordable price,” she added.

She said the study showed that getting the high-powered smartphone experience no longer means having to break the bank as more and more affordable phones begin carrying premium specs that close the feature gap.

Particularly in emerging markets like the Philippines, ABI Research senior analyst Michael Morgan said these “premium” and value-packed smartphones have found a huge following and are steadily driving smartphone adoption upwards as price-sensitive consumers prefer such phones over the expensive, high-end models.

“Despite the low cost moniker, research has shown that the feature gap between low- and high-end smartphones is decreasing, making low cost smartphones a ‘good enough’ solution for price sensitive consumers in all markets,” Morgan said in the study.

Carag said Smart has made it easier for mobile consumers to own the latest premium gadgets without having to shell out more than they can actually afford.

Just recently, for example, Smart launched the Huawei Ascend G610 smartphone for free under All-In Plan 800 on a 24-month contract, bringing the 1.2 GHz quad-core mobile phone into the hands of more consumers nationwide.

Featuring a 5-inch IPS qHD display, one-gigabyte RAM and a five-megapixel rear camera, the G610 is currently the most high-end device on Smart’s offering under All-In Plan 800. Its dual-SIM function and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean mobile operating system also makes it one of the most feature-packed smartphones out there that does not bear the high-end price tag.

Used on Smart’s reliable network, the Huawei Ascend G610 will bring limitless and uninterrupted fun to users as they view YouTube videos, play the latest mobile game, or chat with their friends via the newest mobile messaging app on the phone’s wide five-inch screen.

Aside from its affordable price, the Huawei Ascend G610 under Smart’s All-In Plan 800 allows subscribers to change their set of call, text, and data subscriptions every month, giving them the power to manage their budgets without having to go beyond the fully consumable allocation in their postpaid plans.

Under All-In Plan 800, for example, users can subscribe to 80 minutes of calls to Smart, Globe and Sun Cellular for 30 days for P250 and bundle it with 20 hours of mobile data browsing for a month for just P200, with P350 left to consume on other services.