Nigeria has accounted for 14 per cent of all smartphones across the continent in the first quarter of 2015, ahead of South Africa which trails behind with 12 per cent as the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region shipments are set to total 155 million units in 2015.
According to figures released yesterday by a technology consulting firm, International Data Corporation (IDC), Nigeria and South Africa contributed significantly to the overall growth seen in Africa, with the countries experiencing year-on-year growth of 135 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively.
Samsung, Tecno, and Apple were the leading smartphone vendors in Africa during the quarter, with Huawei being ousted from the top three.
The three leading vendors accounted for a combined 55 per cent share of Africa’s smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2015.
The company’s first quarter 2015 Mobile Phone Tracker’ shows that smartphones accounted for 63 per cent of the handsets shipped in the Middle East during the quarter and 47 per cent in Africa. This comes at the expense of feature phones, which suffered year-on-year declines of around 20 per cent in both regions and will make up just 27 per cent of the overall MEA handset market by the end of 2019.
The growth in smartphones in the MEA region is being spurred by Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, with the two platforms accounting for over 95 per cent of the smartphones shipped. Shipments of devices featuring these operating systems increased by a combined 67 per cent year on year.
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