The sales ranking of mobile phones in Africa is released: Transsion is firmly in the first place, and Xiaomi's shipments are crazy!

Ray Technology

2024-06-18 20:01Posted in Guangdong science and technology creators

On the one hand, a large number of new products dominated by advanced artificial intelligence technology have emerged in the global market, namely "AI mobile phones", which are growing to attract more consumers to buy. On the other hand, Chinese brands have taken the initiative to attack overseas markets, and top brands including Xiaomi, Honor, and OPPO have frequently released strong products overseas, attracting the attention of global consumers.

But in underdeveloped regions, such as Africa, which few people pay attention to, it is the hottest battlefield for Chinese brands.

In its latest market report, market agency Canalys revealed that shipments in the African mobile phone market surged 24% to 18.2 million units in the first quarter of 2024. In terms of brands, Transsion's market share still maintains the first place, while Samsung and Xiaomi rank second and third, and Realme and OPPO are fierce and enter the top five.

(Source: Canalys)

While the global market is competing for market share through new product launches, price reductions and enhanced marketing, the African market has exploded with incredible potential. The core reason for this is that it has a large young population and a rapidly developing economic environment, while 4G and 5G networks are in the stage of alternating upgrades in the region, which also reserves ample market space for mobile phone brands to launch new products.

The race has only just begun as more and more Chinese brands enter the African market. Brands not only have to face competition from local brands, but also have to deal with the challenges of other international brands, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for major brands.

Transsion is leading the way, and Xiaomi and Realme are growing fiercely

Transsion, the "King of Africa", continues to lead the way in the first quarter of 2024, winning the championship with 9.5 million units sold and a market share of 52%.

Of course, compared with the other four manufacturers on the list, Africa can be regarded as the main battlefield of Transsion, and its main new products and marketing plans are rooted here, and the performance is naturally better than other brands. Friends who are familiar with Transsion should also know that Transsion began to leave Africa two years ago and began to deploy new products for the global market, such as the TECNO CAMON 30 series, which is a new mid-range model released by Transsion for the global market this year.

In addition to Transsion, Xiaomi, which was earlier in the African market, also delivered a good report card in the first quarter of this year. According to the report, Xiaomi ranked third with 1.9 million units sold and a market share of 11%, and it is also the best-performing Chinese mobile phone brand except for Transsion.

Xiaomi is adopting a strategy of sticking to the ground, and at present, there is only Redmi 13C a smartphone product on the shelves of its official African mall, priced at 2999 South African rand, about 1193 yuan, although it is nearly 400 yuan more expensive than the national version, but it is also one of the low-end machines with high local cost performance. In addition, the Redmi 13C sold in Africa has made some castrations in the core configuration, shrinking from the original Dimensity 6100+ to Helio G85, since the latter does not support 5G networks, so the African version of Redmi 13C also only supports 4G networks.

(Source: Xiaomi South Africa Official Store)

The up-and-coming realme has blazed a completely different path, and compared to Xiaomi's cautiousness and Transsion's wide layout, the realme launched a model in the African market is more interesting. For example, the realme 12 series released this year, in which the standard version is equipped with a 108 million pixel main lens and a 3x telephoto lens, in the local market, there is no such luxury image configuration of the mid-range model products, the machine naturally caused a huge sensation.

In addition, the real me has launched the trendy image character "realmeow", according to the official introduction, this is an unknown creature from an alien civilization, and the shape is quite cute. It can be seen that Xiaomi and Realme can usher in explosive growth in the African market, with the former continuing the domestic route and focusing on cost performance; The latter is more focused on the young market, starting with trends and image solutions.

(Source: Realme Africa Mall)

As we mentioned earlier, the African market is currently in a stage of rapid development, and many consumers have a higher demand for this kind of mobile phone with good performance and beautiful design, but it may not be very high in terms of budget, so there are more opportunities for Chinese brands that are accustomed to making a fuss about cost performance and quality-price ratio. It cannot be ignored that Samsung, as the first global top mobile phone brand to enter the African market, is still recognized by more local consumers, even in the case of deteriorating product strength and being attacked by Xiaomi and Realme, it still ranks second with 3.8 million sales.

Attacking overseas markets, Chinese brands have their own powers

It is a recognized fact that China's mobile phone market is seriously involuted, as a comparison, 1999 yuan can buy a mid-range model equipped with a flagship-level chip in China, and at the same price, in North America, Japan and South Korea, you can only buy a new machine with average performance. Samsung's A-series, for example, remains one of the best-selling mid-range phones in the global market, but in China, it is largely unappealing to the average consumer.

(Source: Samsung)

Most brands also have a certain consensus when seeking growth in overseas markets, such as promoting flagship models in the European market to increase brand recognition in the local market and enhance brand image; In underdeveloped areas, the low-end models are mainly promoted, with small profits and quick turnover.

At this year's MWC24 exhibition, Honor and Xiaomi held a launch conference for the European market, and the protagonists of the conference were also the Honor Magic 6 series and Xiaomi 14 series, both of which are contemporary flagship models. Their performance in the European market is also quite amazing, especially Honor, which has been recognized by many professional media.

Relatively speaking, Xiaomi's strategy in the African market is still conservative. At present, Xiaomi's main Redmi 13C is still a 4G network model, although not many local users are using the 5G network, but considering the market development, it is also very important to have a 5G network model that is strongly promoted at this transition stage. Realme has very cleverly laid out a variety of 5G models and 4G models, covering a larger audience.

Judging from the new products released this year, Transsion and Realme are more positive. TRANSSION NOT ONLY UPDATED THE BEST-SELLING CANON SERIES, BUT ALSO RELEASED THE NEW SPARK 20 5G SERIES, FEATURING ULTRA-DARK PORTRAITS AND AI SKIN REPAIR FUNCTIONS. As we all know, since the average skin tone of local residents in Africa is relatively dark, Transsion has been focusing on skin beautification effects for people of color since entering the market, and now it is directly using AI large models for skin quality optimization, which is naturally loved by local consumers.

(Source: Transsion official website)

Samsung, which is a competitor to Transsion, does not give much special strategy for the African market, compared to Samsung's strategy in the African market. Samsung did not make any special local adjustments to the African market, but continued to promote its globally unified product line, including the S24 series and high-end models such as the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 with folding screens. Although Samsung has not launched a specially customized product in the African market, its strong brand influence and product quality still make it competitive in the high-end market.

It is worth mentioning that among the top four mobile phone brands on the list, only OPPO has brought folding screen products to the African market, and has also synchronized the Reno series, which has good domestic sales, to overseas malls, reflecting OPPO's importance to the African market.

(Source: OPPO official website)

The huge potential of the African market has attracted an influx of brands, but it also means that the competition will become more intense. In the future, the competition between brands will not only be limited to price and performance, but will also involve the improvement of service and user experience. How to stand out in the fierce market competition will be a huge challenge for all brands.

Who will be the next "King of Africa"?

From the perspective of annual growth trends, Xiaomi's annual growth share reached 115%, and the annual growth share of Realme reached 56%, both of which belong to the top five manufacturers with the best performance. However, in terms of sales volume and market share, it is still difficult to shake Transsion's position in the African market.

In addition to the low-end models, Transsion has also continued to explore the high-end market, launching flagship products such as the PHANTOM X2 Pro 5G, PHANTOM V Fold and PHANTOM V Flip 5G, giving consumers more choices. Xiaomi and Realme, which entered the African market late, currently only have appeal in the low-end market, especially Xiaomi, and the lack of 5G network models may be a big regret that hinders it from maintaining growth this year.

From a marketing point of view, Xiaomi did hold a lot of activities in the global market, such as the Xiaomi 14 Ultra when it was released in Hong Kong, Japan and other markets, and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra also became one of the hot topics in Japan when it was released. Xiaomi's promotion efforts in the African market are obviously not as strong as that of the "local snake" Transsion.

(Source: Xiaomi South Africa official website)

But we can't ignore the opportunities brought by the rapid growth of Chinese brands. First, the two brands of Xiaomi and Realme have achieved good results by relying on a few models on sale, which shows that the local market still has a very large demand for such high-quality and low-cost models; Second, the market share left by Samsung and Transsion is in urgent need of emerging brands to take over, and Xiaomi and Realme can give consumers more choices and stimulate market vitality at this point in time.

Considering that the stage changes in network upgrading and consumption upgrading in the African market may take a long time, there are still many opportunities left for Xiaomi, Realme or OPPO, which is enough for them to complete the product layout from the low-end to the sub-flagship level, covering more consumers with different needs.

The future of the African smartphone market will not only be a competition of price and performance, but also a comprehensive competition of brand, innovation and social responsibility. Who can win in this all-round competition and become the new hegemon of the African mobile phone market will depend on its comprehensive strength in technological innovation, brand building and social responsibility, all of which are indispensable. Of course, it remains to be seen who will succeed Transsion as the "king of Africa" of the new generation, or whether Transsion will remain the champion until the end.

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Lei Technology 618 report team will pay attention to the latest situation of the e-commerce platform, the latest developments of AI hard technology brands, and the new trend of the e-commerce industry.

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