New smartphone shipments to Kenya have significantly dropped for two consecutive quarters for the first time in over five years, due to a drop in disposable income that has forced many Kenyans to cut spending on non-essential items.
Data from technology market analysis firm Canalys, which tracks the shipments from source companies, reveals that in the two quarters to September, smartphone consignments to Kenya recorded a drop not seen in over five years.
In the three months to September, Kenya received only 1.26 million new smartphones, a three percent decline from the 1.297 million units shipped in the quarter to June.
The smartphone imports in the April to June quarter, were also a three percent drop from the 1.335 million units received in the country during the first three months of the year.
The third quarter (to September) shipments also represented a 10 percent decline from the 1.4 million units received in a similar period last year, marking the second year-on-year quarterly drop in a row.
It followed a 22 percent year-on-year decline in the quarter to June, from 1.58 million units received in the country in a similar period last year.
Analysts at Canalys attribute the sharp decline over the last two quarters to the heated protests in June and July, during which a number of smartphone shops were looted, coupled with the rising fuel prices in the country, which jointly dampened consumer spending power.
Manish Pravinkumar, Canalys’ senior analyst for Middle East and Africa, argues that the surge in fuel prices heightened the cost of transport and logistics for smartphone distributors in the country, increasing retail prices for the devices and stalling demand.
“There has been a reduced consumer spending power,” he told Business Daily in reference to the situation in Kenya.
“With the rising fuel prices, there has been a significantly increased cost of living, leaving consumers with less disposable income for non-essential purchases like smartphones.”
The protests, he noted, “highlighted the growing discontent and uncertainty in the market, which also erodes the consumer confidence, making people more cautious about the non-essential spending, including on smartphones.”
Vendors in Nairobi and major towns across the country may have also scaled down their inventory due to the risk of looting, after the protests, contributing to the drop in shipments.
This trend is mirrored in latest data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), which indicate a 17 percent year-on-year decline in newly registered smartphones in the quarter ending June, from 1.3 million to 1.07 million.
While Kenya’s smartphone shipments declined, the broader African market experienced a three percent growth in shipments during the third quarter of 2024. Egypt, one of the continent’s largest markets, saw a 34 percent increase, while Nigeria recorded a modest one percent rise.
However, not all African markets fared well. Morocco and South Africa both recorded declines, with shipments dropping by 24 percent and 10 percent respectively, largely due to rising import taxes and elevated fuel prices.
Most phone manufacturers increased their shipments to the continent during the quarter but Samsung recorded a sharp 30 percent decline, reducing its market share to 18 percent, down from 26 percent last year.
Transsion, which makes the Tecno, Itel and Infinix phones, has maintained the top spot on the continent’s smartphone market, having shipped 9.3 million smartphones to Africa in the three months to September, raising its market share to 50 percent, up two percentage points from last year.
