The smartphone market in the MEA region (Middle East and Africa) saw a significant growth in the second quarter of this year. During this time, Samsung lead the MEA market while TECNO and Xiaomi closing the gap in the region.
According to a Counterpoint Research report, the MEA smartphone market saw a growth of 35 percent year on year in Q2 2021. However, the market saw a 3 percent quarter on quarter decline in this period. Notably, this was the best second quarter performance ever in the MEA market in terms of sales volume. The region saw strong demand for smartphones throughout the first half of the year, paired with economic recovery and boost in employment levels as well.
This was possible over relaxation of lockdowns caused by the pandemic, which was also thanks to rapid vaccination in key Middle East (up by 34 percent) and Africa (36 percent). Senior Research Analyst Yang Wang stated that “Samsung retained the top spot, but its market share slid by 4% points to 16% in Q2 2021. The company boosted market spending at the start of the year, leading to good performance in Q1. However, sales trended down in Q2 due to production disruption in Vietnam following COVID-19. We expect further difficulty in early Q3.”
On the other hand, the Transsion brands, TECNO, itel and Infinix also doubled their cumulative market share. Reaching 32 percent from just 16 percent, with the firms dominating the entry level budget segments. Wang further added that “Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo have also made substantial gains thanks to aggressive entry initiatives in key Middle East and North Africa markets, and the misfortunes of Huawei and HONOR, whose cumulative quarterly market share shrunk to 2.2% from 8.2% a year ago.”
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