Transsion Holdings, the parent company behind Chinese brands TECNO, Infinix and itel mobile recorded its highest ever share in the Nigeria smartphone sales for Q3 according to a research carried out by Counterpoint. The third quarter statistics for smartphone market share in Nigeria for 2018 reveals the Shanghai-based company dominating with a total market share of 41%, Samsung and Huawei mobile completes the top 5.

Nigeria’s smartphone sales also grew by 8% in Q3 due to new phones being launched and the increase in the number of smartphone users. Measuring individually, Samsung tops the smartphone market share with 29% with TECNO Mobile coming at second place with 22%, however, TECNO dominates the feature phone market share in Nigeria boasting 39% ahead of its closest rival itel at 38% whose major focus is on feature phones.

Speaking on Transsion’s dominance, a Research Analyst at Counterpoint stated,

“The Transsion Group has taken a lead in both the feature phone and smartphone segments in Nigeria. The combined share of its brands, Tecno, Itel and Infinix, reached an all-time high in the third quarter of 2018, driven by its affordable offerings, advanced features and strong distribution network. The OEM also launched its affordable Android Go offering during the quarter which started off well, especially the 3G version.”

Due to the increase in smartphone penetration, internet users in Nigeria reached 140 million in July 2018. Counterpoint Research’s Associate Director, Tarun Pathak has this to say;

“The increasing number of internet subscribers is attributed to the reduced prices of smartphones and rising purchasing power of the citizens, reflecting the end of the recessionary cycle and the relative stability of the Nigerian currency. The growth in internet users along with upcoming investments by tech giants in the digital content space is creating a favourable ecosystem to promote Nigeria’s technology sector. Having said that, we believe that both feature phones and smartphones will stay relevant in the Nigeria market for some time. There are ecosystem players like KaiOS that are further working with OEMs and operators to launch affordable 3G/4G feature phones for ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid users where entry-level smartphone penetration remains modest”.

Infinix emerged as the fastest growing brand with its Hot 6 and Hot 6 Pro accounting for 38% of its total phone sales in Q3. Fellow Transsion brand, TECNO had its biggest sales with budget-device, Spark 2 selling the most.

The smartphone market share in Nigeria is expected to grow sequentially in Q4 2018 and next year 2019 with the entry of new players such as Tambo, Oppo and many more.