Nigeria’s smartphone uptake set to improve in 2018

ANALYSTS at Counterpoint Research expect the smartphone market in Nigeria to grow in double digits in CY 2018, driven by the entry of new players and changing OEM strategies.

According to analysis firm’s Market Monitor research focused on the Nigerian handset market, the feature phone market grew 15% annually, offsetting the smartphone decline in 2017, due to a recent economic recession.

The research is comprised of shipment estimates based on vendors’ investor relations results, vendor sales, supply chain checks and secondary research.

Research analyst Anshika Jain said the overall Nigerian handset market declined 8% Y-O-Y in 2016, as the economy (highly dependent on oil exports) witnessed a major downfall in GDP due to plummeting oil prices which triggered a recession, affecting buying power.

This adversely affected the purchasing power of the people. “The overall handset market experienced modest growth of 6% p.a. in CY 2017 as the market is slowly moving out of recession. The situation is likely to improve in 2018,” said Jain.

According to Counterpoint Research, the over smartphone market in 2017 contributed to 52% of the total handset volume, declined by 1% YOY.

Samsung led the overall smartphone market with 34% share in terms of shipments volume, it added

“Samsung still retains the top position with more than one-third share in the total smartphone market. While in the feature phone segment, the market is dominated by a single OEM with 76% share. This highlights the dominance of Chinese players in the feature phone market,” The research stated.

According to Jain, the top two OEMS – Samsung and Transsion Holdings (which owns Tecno, Itel, and Infinix) captured two-thirds of the total smartphone market. “Apart from these two, other leading smartphone players include Huawei, Lenovo, Fero, Alcatel, Gionee, and Apple. These brands capture a smaller share of the overall Nigerian smartphone market.”