Quarterly mobile phone shipments in Africa 2016-2022

Feature phones make up a significant share of the mobile phone market in Africa, in contrast to many other regions around the world where smartphones dominate. Of the 40 to 50 million mobile phones shipped in Africa per quarter, more than half are feature phones. In the fourth quarter of 2022, smartphone shipments amounted to 17.6 million units, while 22.7 million feature phones were shipped.

Chinese vendors play major role in the market

Chinese manufacturer Transsion sells more phones in Africa than any other vendor, with a 43 percent share of the African smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2021 under their three brands; Tecno, Itel and Infinix. Transsion's closest rival, Samsung, accounted for 29 percent in the same quarter. Chinese manufacturers enjoy a strong presence in the African market, with Transsion, Huawei, OPPO and Xiaomi all making regular appearances in the list of the top five producers. This is partially due to the price point at which these manufacturers are able to offer products in Africa, with more than 80 percent of all smartphones in the continent having a price tag of 200 U.S. dollars or less.

Mobile phones in Africa: opening up financial inclusion

Underbanking is a serious problem in Africa, which has led to exclusion from services such as the transfer of money, non-cash payments, and the management of personal funds beyond the storage of cash. Mobile Money is one solution that is present in Africa, allowing those without a bank account to store, use and transfer funds digitally. 183 million active mobile money users made 36.6 billion mobile money transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and Northern Africa during 2021, making up around two-thirds of all transactions made worldwide. Global mobile money transactions surpassed the trillion dollar mark in 2021 for the first time, of which over half was attributable to Sub-Sahara Africa.