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<\/a><\/p>\nRise of Mobicel<\/strong><\/p>\n Local smartphone brands\u2019 shipments grew 33% YoY in 2018 with Mobicel the leading contributor.<\/p>\n Mobicel became the second largest smartphone brand in South Africa during 2018 with its market share climbing to 16%, from 6% in 2017.<\/p>\n Its affordable yet feature-packed smartphones helped Mobicel become the fastest growing brand, outpacing global rivals including Huawei and Hisense, Counterpoint said.<\/p>\n “Even though Mobicel grew its market share substantially it could not overhaul Samsung. While its market share dipped marginally to 32% in 2018, Samsung\u2019s broad portfolio, especially in the entry-level and budget segment, helped it sell almost twice as many smartphones as its nearest competitor.”<\/p>\n Karn Chauhan, research analyst at Counterpoint Research said that\u00a0Mobicel\u2019s Astro<\/strong> was the top-selling smartphone in South Africa during 2018 and helped the company raise its market share.<\/p>\n “The affordability and the features of the phone made it popular in the South African market. Mobicel Astro uses the Android Go Edition, a trimmed down version of Android for entry-level smartphones,” he said.<\/p>\n “In fact, three out of the top five smartphones sold in South Africa in 2018 use Android Go. Apart from Mobicel Astro, the Nokia 1 and Samsung Galaxy J2 Core are the other two entry-level smartphones in the top five using Android Go.”<\/p>\n