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TechInAfrica – International Data Corporation (IDC), the global technology research and consulting firm, has revealed the latest Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. According to the data, the overall shipments for the quarter totaled 52.2 million units, it declined 1.8% (from 53.1 million units) in the first quarter (Q1) 2019.
Feature phones accounted for 58.3% of the market and shipments declined 3.7% QoQ. Meanwhile, smartphone shipments improved 1.0% and accounted for 41.7%. The results are from the same period.
George Mbuthia, a Research Analyst at IDC, explained: “Feature phones remain an integral part of the African mobile phone market due to poor network infrastructure across large parts of the continent, particularly in rural areas, and the ease of use of these devices.”
Mbuthia noted, “However, the transition to smartphones is continuing, albeit slowly, and the affordability of feature phones alone was not enough to stop this segment of the market declining in Q2 2019. Smartphones, on the other hand, enjoyed a recovery from the decline in shipments seen in Q1 2019.”
According to IDC’s latest data, Nigeria remained the largest smartphone market in Africa in Q2 2019, followed by South Africa and Egypt. Nigeria and South Africa’s smartphone shipments increased by 3.6% and 0.2% respectively. On the other hand, Egypt’s smartphone shipment increased 18.0% QoQ after declining considerably in Q1 2019. This was caused by the introduction of import registration and other import regulations.
In terms of brands, Transsion (Tecno, Infinix, and Itel brands), Samsung, and Huawei were the leading smartphone brands for the shipment in Q2 2019. The market shares of these brands were 37.4%, 27.4%, and 8.7% respectively.
However, in terms of share in dollar value, Samsung remained the highest with 40.3%, followed by Transsion (21.9%) and Huawei (12.2%).
IDC estimates Africa’s smartphone market to increase 4.7% in Q3 2019 totaling 22.8 million units.
Source: guardian.ng
