Nigerians love feature phones, but COVID-19 begins to bite

Feature phones remain a major part of Nigeria's mobile phone ecosystem, but the COVID-19 pandemic has dented feature phone shipments in the first quarter of 2020.

This is according to the latest figures from International Data Corporation (IDC), a global technology and consulting services firm, which show that feature phones made up 56% of all devices shipped to Nigeria in Q1 2020.

However, IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker shows a 12.5% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline in feature phone shipments to Nigeria in the first quarter. It also showed that smartphone shipments declined 13.6% over the same period, with demand for both types of devices hit by cautious market sentiment as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads.

The firm said that in Nigeria feature phones are preferred as secondary phones since they offer longer battery life, radio and network access in rural areas where 4G infrastructure is underdeveloped.

From a supply perspective, December 2019 pre-orders combined with existing inventory managed to cushion the market from any severe shortages in Q1 2020.

Feature phones made up 56% of all devices shipped to Nigeria in Q1 2020.

The major players in the country's feature phone space in the first quarter were Tecno with 46.6% unit share, Itel with 30.8%, Nokia with 13% and Bontel with 6.9%.

The market's Chinese players continued with aggressive marketing and branding activities that helped them to retain notable market shares despite the supply issues thrown up by the pandemic, IDC said.

The smartphone space was also dominated by the Chinese Transsion brands (Tecno, Itel and Infinix), accounting for 76.8% of all shipments for the first quarter. Samsung held the second-biggest unit share at 7.2%, while Xiaomi and Huawei followed with respective shares of 4.9% and 3.2%.

"The Chinese brands continue to offer more models in the entry-level and mid-range price bands, with devices going for less than $200," said George Mbuthia, a research analyst with IDC.

"Competition is a major driver of this downward trend in average selling prices, a trend that has catalyzed smartphone adoption in the market. Despite seeing its share drop by 3%, Transsion's Tecno brand continued to lead the way in Q1 2020, with its Spark 4 and Camon 12 models proving popular. Samsung also remained competitive in Q1 2020 as its A-series models offer superior specifications and are affordable for most consumers."

Looking ahead, IDC expects the Nigerian market to see a further 15.7% QoQ decline in overall mobile phone shipments in the second quarter as the lockdown of major businesses that started in late March and further measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 continue to have a negative impact.

"Distributors remain reluctant to keep large inventories as they look to avoid bonding more capital amid an economic slowdown with a fluctuating Naira and declining oil prices. The lockdown has also led to loss of income on the consumer side, which will translate into low spend on mobile phones," added Ramazan Yavuz, a senior research manager at IDC.

— The Staff, Connecting Africa