The global premium smartphone brand, TECNO made waves around the world when it surpassed industry veteran Samsung as the number 1 smartphone brand in Africa in 2020. According to Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor, TECNO’s smartphone shipment market share rose from 17% in 2019 to 18% in 2020 whereas Samsung’s share fell from 18% to 15% respectively.
Despite disruptions in the first half of the year across key Sub-Saharan Africa markets, TECNO came back strongly in the second half after successfully launching affordable smartphone models and retained market spending throughout the rest of the year. The brand, owned by Transsion, achieved this feat in 2020 despite an overall 6.7% fall in Africa’s smartphone shipments relative to 2019.
The African smartphone shipment market is quite concentrated, where numerous brands possess small shares of the entire market, and stiff competition presides among the top shareholders (TECNO, Samsung, Itel etc.). According to Counterpoint, TECNO is projected to gain an even larger share of this market in 2021.
Throughout the year, the African smartphone market outperformed other regions but was not immune to disruptions caused by the global crisis. The market was adversely affected in the first half of the year due to retail and supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic.
The second quarter of 2020 was especially difficult for the African smartphone market as demand plummeted due to most countries entering lockdowns.
