• Africans are spending less on smartphones and this has caused a 19.8 percent decline in shipments, according to data from the IDC.
• Tough global economic conditions, high inflation and higher cost of living saw a year-on-year decline of 19.9 percent of Africa’s smartphone market in Q3 2022.
• Across the continent, Egypt’s smartphone market saw the largest decline at 63 percent.

The African smartphone market is experiencing a continent-wide downturn. It suffered a year-on-year decline of 19.9 percent to a total of 42.2 million units in Q3 2022, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) and its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report.

African smartphone shipments also declined 19.8 percent to 17.8 million units, representing a “very low” quarterly smartphone volume for Africa in Q3 2022. Africa’s two major smartphone markets South Africa and Nigeria shrunk by 16.2 percent and 21.1 percent respectively.

Taher Abdel-Hameed, a senior research analyst at IDC says that the declines across Africa are caused by “an overall slow economy, high inflation rates, higher dollar exchange rates, and the increasing cost of living,”

“All of these factors contributed to a slowdown in demand, which in turn forced most of vendors to cut their shipments into African markets.”

Transsion brands (Tecno, Infinix, and Itel) continued to lead the continent’s smartphone market in Q3 2022 in terms of volume, with a combined unit share of 47.4 percent, followed by Samsung and Xiaomi with respective shares of 25.9 percent and 6.4 percent.

According to IDC information seen by TechCrunch, the countries of Egypt and Tunisia experienced the greatest year-on-year declines of 63 percent and 33 percent respectively.

Egypt’s huge dip can be attributed to newly launched taxes and import restrictions around IT which have caused high gadget prices and a smartphone shortage in the country. Further, the North African country’s weakening economy, which remains one of the largest in Africa, and other economic challenges are also said to be negatively impacting the smartphone market.

Kenya was amongst the countries least affected by the downturn, only seeing a 4 percent year-on-year decline, while South Africa, while in a downward trend, continues to be buoyed by Chinese smartphone brands like Tecno and Xiaomi.

It is notable that Africa is not alone in declining smartphone sales, as tough economic conditions have seen the global smartphone market decline by 11.3 percent. Last year, smartphone sales worldwide suffered their largest-ever downturn.

Apart from smartphones, PC shipments also fell sharply in 2022, seeing a decline of 28.5 percent in Q4 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. The problem is that 2021, in the midst of global lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, saw near-historic levels of PC buying.

These levels were not reached last year, and as inflation continues to tighten wallets, they will probably also continue to decline into 2023.

[Image – Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash]