Canalys’ market report for Africa’s Q3 2024 smartphone market just dropped, with a modest 3% year-over-year growth and an even less impressive 1% growth for the full year 2025. That’s largely due to the economic uncertainties in the region. .
Despite small market gains across the continent, the situation in individual markets varies. For example, Egypt showed impressive growth of 34% for the third quarter in a row thanks to strong local production capacity in 2024.
Nigeria, on the other hand, is the largest market in Africa, but only grew by 1%, mainly due to the depreciating Naira. The value of the currency fell by almost 70% from January to September.
After South Africa’s strong growth over the past six quarters, the region’s smartphone market saw a sharp decline of 10%. Here too, economic uncertainties are the main reason for low consumer spending. Rising food prices and raging inflation are the main culprits.
Kenya also saw a 10% decline as fuel costs and manufacturing challenges dampened consumer spending, while Morocco took a huge hit with a 24% drop in smartphone sales.
Transsion remains the market leader in Africa, has a market share of 50% and is achieving steady growth of 8% despite the market conditions. Samsung’s shipments fell 30% due to low demand in South Africa, typically one of the company’s largest markets in Africa.
Xiaomi also managed to grow by 13% and despite Realme’s impressive 101% growth, Honor’s gain of 287% remains unmatched. Meanwhile, Oppo achieved 22% more sales year-on-year.