INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology
Demand for feature
phones surges
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T
he North Africa mobile phone
market – comprising Egypt, Tunisia,
Algeria, and Morocco – saw year-
on-year shipment growth of 11.5% in Q3
2018, according to the latest insights from
International Data Corporation (IDC).
The global technology research and
consulting firm’s newly released Quarterly
Mobile Phone Tracker shows overall
shipments for the quarter totalled 8.2 million
units, with the growth primarily being driven
by rising demand for feature phones across
each of the region’s country markets.
The region’s largest mobile phone market,
Egypt, saw overall shipments reach 3.7
million units in Q3 2018, with smartphones
accounting for 66.1% of this total. However,
feature phones saw much stronger growth at
23.5% year on year, compared to just 2.6%
for smartphones.
“This disparity in growth rates comes
as consumer purchasing power is being
diminished by rising fuel and electricity
prices,” said Taher Abdel-Hameed, a research
analyst at IDC.
mobile phone imports. This regulation
exempts semi-knocked devices (SKDs) that
are locally assembled in the country. While
smartphones represented 52.3% of the
market in Q3 2018, shipments of these
devices grew by just 3.1% year on year
compared to 65.3% for feature phones. The
focus of local brands on pushing feature
phones as an entry strategy to create brand
awareness and rapidly gain unit share has
proven instrumental in driving this surge.
The Moroccan market remained relatively flat
in Q3 2018, with overall mobile shipments
totalling 1.6 million units for a modest year-
on-year growth rate of 1.3%. Smartphones
accounted for 65% of this total, but shipments
of these devices declined 4.9% year-on-year
versus an increase of 15.8% for feature
phones. Tunisia saw overall shipments of
700,000 units in Q3 2018. With 59.5% share,
smartphone shipments increased 7.2% year
on year, while feature phone shipments grew
18.8% despite the negative backlash caused
by recent fluctuations in the Tunisian dinar.
Looking ahead, IDC expects each of the
markets in this region to record single-digit
growth rates for 2018, with IDC forecasting
region-wide growth of 6.2% year on year
for the North Africa mobile phone market
in 2018.
“The global macroeconomic slowdown has
had repercussions across North Africa, a
region that was already grappling with its
own specific problems,” said Ramazan Yavuz,
IDC Research Manager.
“While growth prospects do exist in
the smartphone segment, brands are
increasingly realising that greater
marketing and distribution spend is
required as competition in the region
has been raised to new heights. Even in
the relatively closed Algerian market,
numerous emerging brands are setting up
manufacturing lines. In a similar vein, the
new wave of Chinese brands will continue
their aggressive expansion plans across
the region.” n
“The cheaper price points of feature
phones are driving a surge in demand for
these devices among consumers that are
experiencing shrinking disposable incomes,
while refresh cycles for smartphones
are getting longer as consumers put off
renewing their devices in this challenging
economic climate.”
Algeria, the region’s second-largest market,
saw overall mobile phone shipments of 2.3
million units in Q3 2018, up 25.6% year on
year. This growth was caused by the rapid
penetration of new local vendors in the
market as they looked to take advantage
of government regulations restricting
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