Online sales not the smartest time to buy smartphones — iPrice

Smartphone prices are higher during online sales like 11.11 and 12.12 than on normal days, according to a study published this March by the iPrice group, a Malaysia-based online shopping meta-search website. 

In each month of 2021 starting August, the cheapest median prices for smartphones in the Philippines occurred on non-sales days rather than sales days. The cheapest of the year cost around P17,200, nearly a week after the 11.11 sale, on November 17. 

Meanwhile, prices were marked up days before sales. October, for example, was the worst time to buy a smartphone, with the median price going up starting Sept. 30 and reaching P22,100 on Oct. 2. It only dropped to P20,500 on the 10.10 sale itself. 

iPrice found that bargain hunters should have gotten a phone on Sept. 25 instead, since the price was 15% lower at about P18,300. 

However, based on the median prices per month, the study determined December to be the best month to buy a smartphone, costing just P18,300 on average. October’s average price was the highest at around P20,600.  

This means 12.12 offered the cheapest smartphone price of any sales day, with a cost of just P17,600. 

SECOND-HIGHEST PRICESThe Philippines has the second-highest smartphone prices out of all the Southeast Asian countries included in the study, iPrice also found. 

Second only to Singapore, which had the highest median price of P23,400, smartphones in the country were found to cost P19,100 on average. Indonesia had the cheapest median price for smartphones at P13,000. 

“Given that the Philippines has one of the lowest wages and the highest smartphone prices in the region, Filipinos need the best deals they can get,” the e-commerce website said in a statement. 

“Thus, iPrice created this study to help Filipino consumers save money when purchasing smartphones,” it added. 

Between July 16 and Dec. 31, 2021, smartphone price data was gathered using iPrice’s database of over 7 billion products and 8 million sellers across SEA. This period was chosen for the increased traffic due to online sales, the aggregator said. — Brontë H. Lacsamana