Demand for smartphones laptops to continue rising.

With many Filipinos continuing to work from home and students still attending their classes online, the demand for laptops, smartphones and other “new normal essentials” will continue rising. This is according to leading consumer finance company Home Credit, noting that the trend might be seen not just in 2021 but in the foreseeable future.

“One of the most defining buzzwords in 2020 'new normal’ continues to be a relevant word as we welcome the new year,” - Sheila Paul, Home Credit Philippines’ chief marketing officer.

“And as millions of employees and students continue to live, work and play from the comfort of their homes, we believe that it is starting to shift from ‘new normal’ to simply our normal way of life from now on.” - Paul added.

Home Credit—which has a nationwide partner store presence and rapidly growing base of mobile app users from its 7 million customers—listing these gadgets in their top five most-loaned items on a regular basis.

Smartphones still on top as demand for fintech also rises

Data from Home Credit shows that the company financed nearly 900,000 smartphones in 2020, the most-loaned item for the year with TVs and laptops taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Among the top smartphone brands purchased via Home Credit include:

OPPO
vivo
realme
Samsung
Huawei

While the best-selling brands for laptops are ACER, Lenovo, and ASUS. As for TVs, popular brands TCL, Sony, and Samsung topped the list.

Customers availing loans for phones ranged from employees and students, to entrepreneurs needing new phones for their online businesses, or consumers simply wanting to upgrade to the latest model of their favorite brand through installments.

Home Credit’s app gives users the option to apply for gadget and cash loans right inside the app, instead of the usual process of in-store application. It also comes with a slew of “new normal-ready” features such as enabling Home Credit card users to make payments via QR; making payments to a growing list of billers such as utilities; an in-app Marketplace where users can shop for gadgets and apply for loans all within the app; SMILE that offer a vast lineup of discounts and deals from thousands of partners; and real-time disbursement of cash loan proceeds.