Earlier this year IDC reported shipments of smartphones overtook feature phones in Africa for the first time.
However, despite this milestone in Q1, the market for smartphones on the continent is still hampered by a number of issues, not least the significant barrier of even the cheapest models being prohibitively expensive for segments of the population.
Senior figures from African operators MTN Group and Vodacom Group told Mobile World Live (MWL) device affordability remained a major issue, with high taxation in some markets a significant contributor.
Cutting the retail price of handsets has been the subject of a number of initiatives over the years, from the creation of stripped-down models, to local manufacture and device financing schemes.
It is also the subject of the recently launched Handset Affordability Coalition comprising bodies including the GSMA, World Bank Group, ITU and various mobile operators.
IDC director mobile devices for EMEA Ramazan Yavuz told MWL some vendors are “offering very affordable entry-level smartphones which ease the transition from the feature phone to the smartphone”.
However, in many locations and for segments of populations, prices remain too high to make buying one a possibility.
The ASP in sub-Saharan Africa for IDC’s lowest classification of smartphone, the “ultra-low end”, stood at $71 in Q1.
Vodacom terminals managing executive Davide Tacchino said while there are a range of other issues at play, the cost of the device was “one of the key barriers jeopardising the adoption of smartphones”.
The average price the group pays for a 4-inch entry level 4G smartphone is $28 compared with $6 for a 2G feature phone, he added, with devices with larger screens costing even more.
Tacchino stated the price discrepancy between a good feature phone and entry-level smartphone was “very material” to some users in the region.
Aiming low
Unsurprisingly MTN chief consumer officer Enzo Scarcella stated “the lower the better” on pricing, highlighting in most of its markets an entry-level 4G smartphone with a 5-inch screen and 2500mAh battery retails at around $50.
Scarcella estimated if the price was brought down to $30, the expectation is it would “see run rates double”.
MTN is currently working with manufacturing partners on schemes to strip down specifications and features to bring the cost of the lowest-priced smartphones to that mark.
Here, the executive cited the potential of devices which essentially provided a “browser experience” where “everything you would want was in the cloud”.
Availability of cheaper standard entry-level smartphones is still suffering from something of a Covid-19 (coronavirus) hangover, Scarcella indicated, explaining in 2019 “the entry-level price point was $30 to about $50” with a “slowdown in 4G smartphone adoption” as this increased.
One reason for the price rise is said to be the well-publicised chip shortage in the wake of the pandemic.
“As the silicon chip shortage hit, a lot of the bigger OEMs used the available stock they had to go into higher-end devices because there was much better margin,” Scarcella added. “This meant there was a shortage of supply on the lower-end devices”.
Taxing questions
Outside manufacturing and base component costs, the trio pointed to the significant impact of import taxes and other policies in some markets.
Yavuz highlighted a rise in “protectionism” in some countries due to the global economic crisis, alongside “taxation regimes impeding the flow of smartphones”, adding the import of the devices “constitute considerable portions in some countries’ GDPs”.
Tacchino said taxation and other duties amounted to around 50 per cent in some nations, with a lack of dollar availability and foreign exchange rates also creating a barrier in some locations.
“If you import a smartphone or produce it locally you need to use US dollars because you cannot pay suppliers with your local currency, they will not accept it”.
“In some markets there isn’t the availability which is present in South Africa or in Kenya”.
This issue, he noted, constrained importers.
“What happens is, usually the government exports goods and retains some of these dollars, but when they use them there is a list of priorities and obviously food, medicines, other sectors could be prioritised against the smartphone”.
Scarcella told MWL easing duties could create a fast impact: “As soon as you reduce the tax regime, it goes straight into retail pricing and a reduction in retail pricing sees an increase in demand”.
As soon as you reduce the tax regime, it goes straight into retail pricing and a reduction in retail pricing sees an increase in demand
Enzo Scarcella, chief consumer officer MTN
He also highlighted any local taxes on social media proved a “disincentive to use the internet”, further hampering adoption.
To aid uptake, Scarcella backs greater state device subsidy programmes, given the relationship between increased internet usage and a rise in GDP.
Further down the supply chain, Tacchino pointed to issues with distribution, noting in markets like South Africa and Mozambique, where there are big retailers associated, mark-ups were often lower than elsewhere.
Citing Ethiopia, where Vodacom’s affiliate launched in 2022, he said in getting “a smartphone to an end user there could be five or six entities in the middle” especially in rural areas “and obviously all these entities are adding a mark-up”.
High finance
With up-front costs for devices prohibitive for some, it is unsurprising to learn device financing is becoming a popular means of getting smartphones into the hands of normal working people.
Unusually when speaking to rival operators, both Vodacom and MTN executives pointed to the same positive example here, device financing specialist M-Kopa.
Its website states it operates in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa and signed-up its 4-millionth customer last month, though the figure includes other products bought on finance such as TVs.
Users make an initial deposit, complete ID checks and then take a smartphone away before paying the remainder of the device off in monthly, weekly or daily installments. Should a user fail to keep up repayments, the company can remotely disable the smartphone.
Both operator groups partner with M-Kopa in selected locations, while Scarcella highlighted MTN is also working on other models of device financing.
Tacchino cautioned the most common form of payment in Vodacom’s markets was still cash, though it was introducing financing options across its markets.
Describing it as an “interesting new topic”, the Vodacom executive added sometimes “you have to be careful because you are targeting a segment which has no credit scoring, they don’t have credit cards, we can’t vet this customer with the usual methods”.
While the price of new devices is too high for some, Tacchino pointed to the potential for second hand models on the continent.
“We are exploring the pre-owned smartphone topic because I believe there could be potential: if in the developed markets we start collecting smartphones and refurbishing them in some way and routing them to Africa”.
We are exploring the pre-owned smartphone topic because I believe there could be potential
Davide Tacchino, terminals managing executive Vodacom
However he noted for impact at the base level there would need to be a reliable way to collect used entry-level Androids rather than just iPhones and high-end models as currently “we are not able to find enough volume of the same device to be imported into Africa”.
Other costs
Although buoyant on the continued march of the smartphone against the feature phone on the continent, Yavuz cautioned feature phones still “do the best job” in some rural areas, citing mobile coverage problems and issues around access to electricity.
“Feature phones offer better battery life compared to smartphones,” he added. “So combine the lack of connectivity plus the need for electricity and this is a barrier for the smartphone”.
Although Yavuz raised coverage as still being an issue in some places, on the launch of the Handset Affordability Coalition last month, the GSMA estimated 3 billion people live in areas covered by mobile internet coverage but do not use it.
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