19 July 2019
According to the report released by IDC, economic turbulance caused a 7.1% quarter-on-quarter decline in Africa’s smartphone market
Africa’s smartphone market saw a 7.1% decline in shipments in the first quarter of 2019, with the continent’s two biggest markets, South Africa and Nigeria, underperforming.
According to the latest Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report released by research house International Data Corporation (IDC), economic turbulence caused a 7.1% quarter-on-quarter decline in Africa’s smartphone market, to total 21.5 million units.
“Africa is susceptible to challenging local macro-economic environments as well as to global tensions surrounding international trade,” IDC said. “Another factor is the rise of protectionist measures aimed at controlling smartphone shipments in multiple countries, which causes sudden short-term swings in the market’s performance.”
South Africa and Nigeria underperformed due to “seasonal effects”, posting quarter-on-quarter declines of 23.4% and 14.7% respectively.
“While Africa’s smartphone market experienced a quarter-on-quarter decline, shipments actually increased 5.6% when viewed year-on-year,” said Arnold Ponela, research analyst at IDC. “The YOY increase indicates the market is showing some signs of improvement, while the QOQ decline can be attributed to the traditionally weaker performance of Q1 versus the seasonal buoyancy of Q4 in 2018, in addition to disappointing results in some large markets.”
South Africa’s overall mobile phone market contracted 4% year-on-year in Q1 2019 to 4.7 million units.
“The decline can be attributed to seasonal factors, with Q1 traditionally being the slowest quarter of the year,” added Ponela. “There was also an issue with overstocking in the channel because of the buoyant volumes seen during Q4, traditionally the strongest, when demand is stirred by Black Friday and the Christmas season.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria saw smartphone shipments of 2.3 million units in Q1 2019, down 11.9% year-on-year. The report said the west African nation’s poor performance can be attributed to a three-week embargo on shipments of Chinese mobile phone brands into the country, which negatively affected major market players.
