Smartphone sales down in 2016 over forex instability – Report

A new report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), a global technology research and consulting services firm, says that smartphone sales are slowing down in Nigeria and other African countries. According to the report, Africa’s smartphone market is aggregated at 95.37 million units in 2016 with IDC saying that the demand is being hindered by […]

A new report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), a global technology research and consulting services firm, says that smartphone sales are slowing down in Nigeria and other African countries.

According to the report, Africa’s smartphone market is aggregated at 95.37 million units in 2016 with IDC saying that the demand is being hindered by the foreign exchange fluctuations that are affecting Nigeria and other African countries.

The report said 215.33 million mobile phones were shipped in Africa in 2016, however, it was feature phones that were largely responsible for this number, with shipments totalled at 119.97 million units in 2016.

This growth saw feature phones increase their unit share of Africa’s overall handset market from 53% in 2015 to 56% in 2016, with smartphone brands like Samsung, Tecno, Itel and Infinix comfortably leading the smartphone market in 2016.

Samsung continued to lead the African smartphone market in 2016 with 27% market share. At 26 million units, Samsung’s smartphone market share dropped by about 2.5%. The second-placed smartphone brand was Tecno with a market share of 12% (11.5 million units), followed by Huawei at 8% market share (7.7 million units).

Itel comes third at 6% market share (5.7 million units) and Infinix follows at 3% market share (2.8 million units).

Commenting on  the development, the research manager for mobile devices in Africa at IDC CEMA, Ramazan Yavuz said price competitiveness has become a key issue in many African markets.

“To grow significantly in these markets, vendors have to be able to address the continent’s large low-income population by providing phones that are priced very competitively. As such, global vendors are cautious of the lower-priced Chinese brands now entering the market and are keeping a close eye on them,” he added.

Some dealers of smartphones at popular Computer Village in Lagos confirmed that sales of smart devices decreased due to inflation and recession in the country.