Africa's smartphone market grows 4.4% to 21.7 mln in Q3

                 

Africa's smartphone market recovered from two consecutive declines to post quarter-on-quarter growth of 4.4 percent in the third qwuarter, according to the latest data from IDC. Smartphone shipments for the quarter reached 21.7 million units, spurred by ongoing economic recoveries in some of the continent's major markets. 

Year on year, shipments declined to 5.5 percent, but this still represents an improvement on the year-on-year performance seen in the previous two quarters. In the feature phone space, shipments totaled 33.7 million units, down 3.6 percent quarter-on-quarter after increasing for the three previous quarters. However, year-on-year, the feature phone market was up 11.5 percent. 

Feature phones still constitute a significant 60.8 percent share of the total mobile phone market as they adequately address the needs of African consumers that have limited purchasing power and require a reliable long-lasting mode of communication, particularly those in rural areas. Combining smartphones and feature phones together, the overall Africa mobile phone market saw shipments of 55.4 million units in Q3, which represents a slight sequential decrease of 0.7 percent but an increase of 4.2 percent from the year before. 

There were contrasting fortunes for the continent's two biggest markets, with Nigeria seeing shipments increase 1.7 percent quarter-on-quarter while South Africa suffered a decline of 8.0 percent over the same period. In terms of the vendor landscape, Transsion brands continued to lead the smartphone category with a 30.1 percent share, followed closely by Samsung with 26.1 percent.

IDC's research shows that 4G phones are growing in popularity, with shipments increasing 5.5 percent sequentially in Q3 to finally account for a majority share of the smartphone market of 52.9 percent. A drop in prices for entry-level 4G phones and an increase in the number of 4G networks across the continent are driving this growth in 4G devices.

IDC expects Africa's overall mobile phone market to grow 6.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, spurred by the increase in demand that typically accompanies the festive season. However, the forecast for the year ahead is not as positive, with IDC expecting overall shipments to remain relatively flat through 2018, with a decline in feature phone shipments and slower uptake of smartphones causing the market to contract 0.5 percent year-on-year.