Monday, March 28, 2022

Smartphones under Php30,000 in the Philippines (Q1 2022)

It has been three months since we entered 2022, and smartphone brands are beginning to introduce new offerings for this year. The following list contains upper mid-range smartphones that are officially launched in the Philippines during the first quarter of 2022, their CPU, RAM, and storage configurations, as well as their price. We earlier published our list of entry-level smartphones released during the same period.

Photo: Oppo Reno 7 5G

Smartphones	Configuration	Price
Samsung Galaxy A73 5G	Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G	• 6GB + 128GB - PHP 26,990 • 8GB + 128GB - PHP 27,990 • 8GB + 256GB - PHP 29,990
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G	Octa-Core Exynos 1280 5G	• 6GB + 128GB - PHP 22,990 • 8GB + 128GB - PHP 23,490 • 8GB + 256GB - PHP 25,490
realme 9 Pro+	Octa-Core MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G, 8GB + 256 GB	PHP 23,990
Apple iPhone SE 2022	Hexa-Core Apple A15 Bionic	• 4GB + 64GB - PHP 28,990
realme GT Neo2 5G	Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 5G	• 12GB + 256GB - PHP 26,990
vivo V23 5G	Octa-Core MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G	• 12GB + 256GB - PHP 27,999

Similar to the trend from 2021, which began to see the higher mid-range level crowded by phones with 5G capability, this quarter’s offerings appear to be blazing with 5G-capable phones. It has to be noted that the Philippines began its 5G rollout in 2020. Actual 5G coverage, however, remains to be limited nationwide. AMOLED screens also dominate higher mid-range offerings for this period, whereas there would still be newer phones in lower mid-range levels which feature IPS LCD screens. While each display technology has their own set of advantages and disadvantages, AMOLED screens are usually credited to be slimmer, have more vivid colors and better energy efficiency than LCD.

Apple’s iPhone SE 2022 begins to appear in this pricing category, although it seems that there are some aspects of it which may yet to catch on with similarly priced phones running on Android. For instance, it sports a 4GB RAM for its more affordable variant, whereas some offerings in the higher mid-range level feature as high as 12GB RAM under the hood. It also uses an IPS LCD display which would seem to be an exception in this price range.

Of course, it has to be regarded that iPhone SE 2022 does offer the Apple experience despite its relative affordability compared to its siblings. For one, it would have the latest iOS 15.4 update available for use.

For the full list of smartphones released in the Philippines in 2022, click here. You may also want to check out our list of Smartphones under Php20,000 released in the same period.

Please note: The smartphones listed are those that were officially released in the Philippines from January to March 2022 (We will update this article if more were released in the remaining days of the quarter). The smartphones were organized according to the most recently launched (from top to bottom).

Updated as of March 28, 2022.