Kenyans bought more mobile phones in the three months from October to December 2020 than they did from July to September of the same year. According to IDC, a premier global market intelligence firm, the demand for mobile phones in Kenya increased by 15% in the 4th quarter of 2020 from the previous quarter.
Despite the increase in quarter on quarter mobile phone sales, the sales at the end of 2020 were 2% lower than the sales at the end of 2019.
IDC attributes the jump in mobile phone sales in the 4th quarter of 2020 to aggressive marketing campaigns, attractive Christmas and Black Friday offers, lower VAT rate of 14% and increased disposable income among buyers due to 5% lower Pay as You Earn tax rate.
In the last quarter of 2020, feature phone shipments into Kenya rose by 20.8% while smartphone shipments rose by 11.3% in the same period.
According to IDC, 59% of the mobile phones shipped into the country in Q4 2020 were smartphones from leading brands like Techno, Samsung, Huawei, and Safaricom’s Neon phones. 30.7% of the smartphones sold were Tecno phones, 14% were Samsung phones, 10.2% were Huawei model and 8.4% were Safaricom’s Neon phones.
Feature phones from brands like Nokia, Itel, and Techno made up 41% of the mobile phone sales in Kenya in Q4 2020. Nokia had the largest share of feature phone sales at 44.5%, and Itel came second with 29.3% of the sales.
The US based market intelligence firm predicts that year on year smart phone sales will increase by 1.4% in 2021.
George Mbuthia, a research analyst at IDC said, “While 5G-enabled devices will sustain a growing trend throughout the year, they will remain minor in terms of actual shipment numbers”.
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