Tech Movers and Shakers of 2013

The year 2013 can be considered the year of the smartphone but it’s also the year of just so many devices. We looked at last’s years hottest and most interesting gadgets and the brands that introduced them in the country.

Top Mobile Brand in the Philippines: Samsung. Some surveys put Samsung as the top smartphone seller in the country (a tight race between Cherry Mobile), we believe it is undoubtedly the top phone brand in terms of value. Its flagship handsets — Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 — are among the top selling phones in 2013.

Top Selling Phone Brand: Cherry Mobile. With sales numbers reaching between 200,000 to 250,000 units per month, Cherry Mobile has the most number of handsets sold than any other phone brand in the Philippines. It’s a testament that local brands can still make it big and slug it out with global brands.

Most Trusted Brand: Apple. Consumers trust Apple more than any other tech brand. Period.

Top Selling Smartphone of 2013. Samsung Galaxy S4. Samsung continues to dominate with the Galaxy S4 as the hottest selling smartphone of 2013. It even beat consumer demand compared to the iPhone 5S/5C combined. At least one telco rep tells us the Galaxy S4 is their number 1 most requested smartphone of 2013.

Most Innovative Smartphone of 2013. LG G2. While 2013 may be considered the year of flagship smartphones, they all had almost the same features and powerful hardware. LG dared to differentiate itself. Call it their version of “re-inventing the wheel”.

Best New Tablet: Asus Transformer Book T100. It’s a netbook, it’s a tablet, it’s a laptop. Running Windows 8.1 with a powerful mobile processor and very long battery life, the T100 is our favorite new tablet of 2013.

Most Innovative Laptop of 2013: Asus Transformer Book Trio. Two operating systems and 3 form factors make the Transformer Book Trio. The idea is novel and has never been done before.

Sexiest Ultrabook Alive: Acer Aspire S7. Sleek, slim, sexy and with a touch of glass. The Aspire S7 is our gold-standard for ultrabooks. It’s the Macbook Air of Windows 8.

Most Promising New Device: Google Chromecast. For only $35PHP 2,054INR 2,966EUR 33CNY 255 a pop, the Chromecast stands to be the most promising new device in 2013.

Best New Imaging Device: Sony QX10/QX100. These pair of stand-alone NFC cameras came out of nowhere and was a huge hit.

Most Valuable Mobile OS: Google Android. The only mobile operating system that cuts across many markets — from smartphones, to tablets, to desktops, to TVs, digital camera, media players, and many more. Android influenced a lot of trends in the last 5 years.

Most Valuable Mobile Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon. No doubt the best and most popular flagship smartphones use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. The Snapdragon 800 is synonymous to great performance.

Rookie Processor of the Year: Intel Atom Bay Trail. Intel’s new Atom baby is our rookie of the year in the chip industry. It’s present in smartphones, tablets, laptops both running either Android or Windows 8.1.

Most Disruptive Casual Game: Candy Crush Saga. Undoubtedly the one that defined mobile gaming in 2013. It became the top downloaded game on iOS for the most part of the year. It also dominated Facebook and Android making it one of the most, if not the most, profitable games of 2013 (grossing over $500PHP 29,343INR 42,375EUR 476CNY 3,639 Million).

Most Successful Local Start-Up: Sulit.com.ph. There is no stopping this 2-man start-up that became the biggest and most popular local website in the country.