Africa’s smartphone market saw a 7.1% decline in shipments in Q1 2019

Africa’s smartphone market saw a 7.1% decline in shipments in Q1 2019 to a total of 21.5 million units, according to the latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC).

The report also revealed that the continent’s two biggest markets — Nigeria and South Africa — underperformed due to “seasonal factors”, posting QoQ declines of 14.7% and 23.4%, respectively.

For instance, Nigeria saw smartphone shipments of 2.3 million units in Q1 2019, down 11.9% year-on-year, which was largely due to a three-week embargo on shipments of Chinese mobile phone brands into the country, which negatively affected major market players. The poor performance was also attributed to the widespread insecurity and the one-week postponement of the general elections in the country.

On the other hand, South Africa’s overall mobile phone market declined by 4.0% year-on-year in Q1 2019 to a total of 4.7 million units, “attributed to seasonal factors, with Q1 traditionally being the slowest quarter of the year,” according to Arnold Ponela, a research analyst at IDC.

“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,” he added.

However, there were indications that the market is showing signs of improvement, despite the quarter-on-quarter decline, as the report revealed that shipments increased 5.6% when viewed year-on-year.