Egypt smartphone market records healthy growth despite COVID-19, IDC
While most smartphone markets across the Middle East and Africa suffered declines in 2020, Egypt recorded healthy year-on-year (YoY) growth according to the latest figures announced by International Data Corporation, IDC.
The global technology research and consulting services firm's newly released Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that Egypt's smartphone market grew 10.6% YoY in 2020 to total 11.9 million units.
"The market witnessed multiple developments on both the supply and demand sides throughout 2020," says Taher Abdel Hameed, a senior research analyst at IDC. "On the demand side, consumers had tighter budgets, but there was strong demand for smartphones to meet the new remote working and education requirements brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. This demand spurred the majority of vendors to offer new affordable but feature-rich models. On the supply side, supply shortages in Q1 and the introduction of new import taxes on mobile phones in July were both negatives for the market. However, these were largely offset by vendors accelerating their shipments in Q2 before the application of new taxes and after supplies returned to normal."
Samsung was Egypt's smartphone market leader in 2020 with 25.2% unit share, followed by Oppo in second place and Xiaomi in third.
In terms of price bands, shipments of low-end devices priced below $200 increased 17.7% YoY. And in terms of screen size, the 6.5–7.0" band saw its share of shipments increase significantly from 14.5% in 2019 to 47.9% in 2020.
Looking ahead, IDC expects Egypt's smartphone market to grow 2.5% YoY in 2021. "The rate of growth has softened in H1 2021 due to a global shortage of components," says Ramazan Yavuz, a senior research manager at IDC. "This has lowered what would otherwise have been a strong growth forecast for the year as a whole. However, Egypt remains on a growth trajectory, with demand still healthy in the country. Any positive developments relating to the supply shortages will fuel further growth in 2021."
