Affordable smartphones flood Nigeria’s mobile market

Few years ago, the Nigerian Smartphone market was dominated by the likes of Nokia, Apple, BlackBerry, Samsung and HTC. Rarely do some of Nigerian users, particularly youths, want to have Chinese phones in their possession, because of its perceived quality; they just want to get these smartphones as long as it can perform what other smartphones of higher quality can do.

Now, the story is different as the ‘war’ over who controls Nigeria’s N245billion smartphone market is getting fiercer by the day as the country becomes a hotspot for manufacturers of smartphone devices. While Nigeria is believed to be the fastest growing market globally for smartphones, a shift from high-end devices to cheaper ones is driven by rise in demand, especially amongst low income earners, analysts have said.

At present, 25 percent of Nigeria’s over 116 million mobile subscribers use smartphones, global market research company, TNS said. This is an indication of the enormous potential inherent in the smartphone market.

According to the latest smartphone report from Juniper Research, it could just be a few years away before cheap smartphones sales overtake high-end sales. The research company expects ‘ultra-low cost’ smartphone sales to grow to 200 million in 2018, and it predicted only 10 million in sales for that segment next year.

With that low-end growth, Juniper predicted that the high-end smartphone market will ‘diminish proportionally.’ Analysts told BusinessDay that Apple and BlackBerry, may struggle in the race to dominate Nigeria’s vibrant smartphone market. But other device makers with extensive portfolios, accommodating both high-end and low-cost smart phones won’t be fazed at all.

Experts’ view

Tony Liang, managing director, Huawei Devices Nigeria, had told BusinessDay earlier that about 30 million smartphones were expected to be sold in the country between now and 2015. Industry watchers have however predicted 70 percent of these devices would be ultra-low cost devices.

“With an affordable smartphone with a quality screen, software, and user experience, we believe that the smartphone will be the window to the world for many Nigerians,” Alpesh Patel, chief executive officer, Mi-Fone, a pan-African phone maker, told BusinessDay. “Prices of smart phones are likely to decline. The sub-$100 smartphone is steadily becoming a reality globally.

“Low-end smartphones are increasingly available and these types of mobile phones will likely grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 15 percent over the coming years,” James Rutherford of Nokia Corporation, said in a recent report.

Chinese phone maker, Tecno and Huawei as well as Infinix Mobile have been quite aggressive in terms of the number of affordable smartphones introduced into the market. While Samsung, Korean smartphone maker, has finally dethroned Nokia as the leader in smartphone market, industry watchers say it may have to engage in another heated battle for dominance in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest smartphone market.

According to analysts, Nokia had earlier locked that region with the company selling overpriced phones but once Samsung introduced the Galaxy series running on the Android platform, it wasn’t too long before a steep shift in the direction of Android smartphones became obvious and a subsequent decline in the overall market share of Nokia.

The success story of Galaxy series by Samsung has come under heavy threat by Tecno; a Chinese company doing a lot of things right in the last few years. Giving insight into its recipe for success, Arif Chowdhury, vice president, Tecno Group, said the company focuses specifically on developing innovative and affordable devices for the masses.

“Studies indicate that most people now access the internet through their mobile phones as opposed to Personal Computers (PCs). We will be launching more internet series mobile phones to serve the growing demand of our customers,” he said during the launch of Phantom A3 smartphone in Lagos recently. Majority of Nigerian youths are finding Tecno devices much more affordable, boasting of specifications similar to the Samsung Galaxy series.

“What has swayed a lot of Nigerians to the Tecno brand is that the smartphones being produced run on the Android platfrom,” Segun Bakare, phone dealer at Ikeja Computer Village, told BusinessDay.

There’s an increased focus on getting developing countries connected, and we’re seeing things like Firefox’s mobile operating system and Nokia’s Asha line trying to put cheap smart phones in people’s hands, according to Juniper.

Juniper says there would be more innovative approaches in the high-end market. It points to China’s Xiaomi, which offers high-end hardware and low prices offering people additional services. That competition may also spur on the established high-end market leaders, Apple and Samsung, to step up with their own innovation.

Juniper also noted that the market would witness new smartphone paradigms like the Phonebloks concept. This enables consumers to build and upgrade their own customised smartphone with a modular design, as well as ethically minded solutions like the Fair Phone.

Anne Agbaje