Kenya's smartphone shipments increased 4.5% YoY; feature phone shipments were down 31.6% YoY in Q1 2022

Kenya’s smartphone market saw shipments increase 4.5% year on year (YoY) in Q1 2022, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), although the overall mobile phone market was down 9.0% YoY, with feature phone shipments declining 31.6% YoY.

The report further notes that smartphone shipments were up 12.7% from a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) perspective in Q1 2022, thanks to the Kenyan shilling’s stabilization against the U.S. dollar, which helped facilitate imports by vendors.

As a result, smartphones accounted for a 72.0% share of total mobile phone shipments across the country in Q1 2022, with top vendors like Tecno leading the market with 27.1% unit share, while Samsung (23.2%) and Safaricom (13.1%) placed second and third, respectively. Nokia, with its affordable C-series model, ranked fourth with a 9.4% market share.

In the feature phone market, Tecno led with a 36.5% unit share, Itel followed with 35.5%, and Nokia ranked third with a 23.3% share.

[via: IDC]