Denis Opudo
There is a projection for an increase in demand for smartphones in Africa. This is according to smartphone makers and vendors. There will be a need to grow market shares by driving sales in 2018. According to International Data Cooperation, there is a rise in the smartphone sales. There is an increased number of consumers in need of the gadgets. The year 2017 saw a downfall in demand for the smartphones.
There were two consecutive declines within the same year. The shipping of smartphones for the first quarter was 21.7 million gadgets. This was a subject of economic recovery in parts of the continents major markets. But a decline of 5.5% came later in the year. Kenya is amongst the leading smartphone markets in Africa. A large number of populations in the country prefer 4G phones. That’s 30% of the $0 million mobile subscribers.
The country recorded the highest 4G phones shipment in the first quarter of 2017. The shipment went to 5.5% of the total 52.9% in the whole region. The high growth on the demand of 4G is facilitated by a drop in the price of the phones. Phone vendor Redington launched the iPhone X Read in December 2017. That is the latest smartphone from the company. Currently, it’s the most advanced phone on the market. The phone goes at $1250. It has the latest hardware and software. There are hundreds of orders placed that await shipment few days after the launch.
The high demand for smartphones in Kenya has seen many people taking credit to get the gadgets. This is according to Odyssey Capital Chief Executive Eric MUli. The high numbers of customers are the youths. The youths prefer the latest versions from renowned companies. For example Samsung, iPhone, and others are the preferred ones. But lack of enough money limits their needs. Lipa Later is the latest partnership with the Odyssey. The service helps customers to get a phone and pay it in installments. Some companies prefer instant payments. Lipa Later will help people to live to their technology expectations.
The company has already issued out loans to 10,000 customers. Interest rate starts from 4% depending on the value of the phone. The Trassion Group is the distributors of iTel, Techno, and infinix. The company is leading the smartphone distribution category at 30%. Samsung follows with 26%.
