South Africa\u2019s smartphone market has fragmented into low, mid and high-end segments with operators focusing on driving volume sales in the entry-level and lower-end of the market, and on average revenue per user (ARPU) and value at the high-end.<\/p>\n
This is according to Nicolet Pienaar, product manager at GfK South Africa, who said that while many more lower-end smartphones are sold each year, they account for a lower share of the value than mid-tier and high-end models.<\/p>\n
“While high-end smartphones (R6,000 and above) only accounted for 9.7% of smartphone sales during 2018, (this segment) contributed almost 50% in value,” said Pienaar.<\/p>\n
“In comparison, low-end smartphones (R1,499 and below) accounted for 61% of unit sales in 2018, but contributed 17% in value,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It might also be interesting to note that Android has about 94% of the smartphone market.”<\/p>\n
Pienaar added that sales, specifications, and features differ greatly across\u00a0a range of smartphone price points:<\/p>\n