Canalys has released its quarterly analysis of the smartphone market in Africa and it looks promising compared to other regions of the world. Between July and September 2023, the continent recorded 17.9 million total smartphone shipments, which is 12% more than the same period last year.
Transsion, the company behind brands such as Tecno, Infinix and iTel, remained the undisputed leader with a 48% market share, almost double that of the second largest company, Samsung.
The region has demonstrated strong supply and demand resilience, in contrast to the macroeconomic challenges these producers are facing. South Africa, for example, recorded 20% growth despite rapid currency devaluation.
Customers wanted mid-range devices with large screens and batteries to keep them entertained during power outages, said Manish Pravinkumar, senior consultant at Canalys. Nigeria and Egypt also saw an increase in sales of entry-level smartphones, where Xiaomi prioritized sales of the Redmi Note 12 4G, Redmi 12 and Redmi 12C variants.
Egypt, for example, was facing a severe shortage of currency to pay for its imported goods, including smartphones, following the war in Ukraine and the exit of indirect investments. Now, import curbs have been lifted and the country has seen a 19% increase in smartphone growth.
While Transsion, Xiaomi, and Realme have all worked to push their affordable devices, Samsung has gone in another direction. The company maintained sales of the Galaxy A series to keep volumes high, but decided to promote foldable devices to position itself favorably in the premium segment, which is not as popular in Africa.
Canalys revealed that Huawei’s strategy in the region was to work with local software vendors. This way, it can improve the usability of Huawei mobile services, addressing the lack of GMS on its Android devices.
Growth in Africa is not an isolated phenomenon, Canalys revealed. However, demand is expected to slow and growth in 2024 will be limited to a single-digit percentage.
Countries across the continent are increasingly adopting smartphones. However, there are still obstacles, such as currency devaluation, import taxes and government initiatives to promote local products, which lead to increases in the costs and prices of imported goods, such as smartphones.
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