Top selling smartphone brands in Nigeria 2013

Often times I see people compile a list of best or top selling phones in Nigeria and when you look at the list you will see that they are all smartphones like iPhone, Blackberry, Samsung etc, I want to state here that such lists are absolutely rubbish, in a country where an average citizen lives below $2 a day, how can smartphones of over $200 be the top selling phones?

If you want to compile a list of top selling phones in Nigeria, then you should be talking about those low end phones that cost less than $40, usually the cheap Nokia phones, Tecno phones and China phones in the market not the high end smartphones used by few people relative to the population of phone users in Nigeria.

So I intend to do something different and compile a list of “Top selling smartphone brands in Nigeria 2013”. The smartphone culture in Nigeria is fast growing; probably the fastest growing in Africa, in a country with over 70 million phone users, the percentage of smartphone users is seriously improving.

Nigerian smartphone business market holds enormous prospect and mobile phone companies are aware of this, and have introduced new products every year into the mobile market. Different brands go into competition with each other for dominance of the Nigerian mobile market and this has complicated the decision-making process for buyers looking to buy smartphones. Let’s see what smartphone brands Nigerians go for and why…

Samsung:

Samsung is the king of smartphones in the Nigerian mobile market. Samsung Android smartphones have dominated the Nigerian smartphone market especially with their galaxy series. The versatility and functionality of the Samsung Android smartphones are quite impressive and smartphone users are already looking out for new features in the next upgrade.

Check out the best selling smartphones from Samsung at Jumia Online Stores.

Tecno:

Tecno is giving Samsung a run for their money in the Nigerian mobile market. I sometimes fear Samsung’s dominance may not last for too long from the way Tecno is making waves in the Nigerian mobile market. Tecno made it to the second spot on my top selling smartphone brands in Nigeria 2013 because just within this year the number of people using smartphones in Nigeria have doubled with Tecno to take the glory for their cheap mid-range smartphones like the N3, D5, P3, M3, N7, F7 etc. smartphone series.

Tecno’s popularity in the Nigerian mobile market just within one year has seen the company’s image change from the often referred to as “China phone” makers to real smartphone makers, now people do not discriminate about the Tecno brand, people have come to accept it and it is greatly improving its acceptance by the release of new products and the demand for their products is always on the high. In fact I can say that Tecno revolutionized the Nigerian smartphone market and they deserve a place on my list of best selling smartphone brands.

Check out the best selling smartphones from Tecno at Junia Online Stores

Nokia:

Nokia is still selling very well in the Nigerian mobile market even though Tecno and Samsung have broken and overtaken its dominance. Nokia used to have the number one spot as the best selling phone brand in Nigeria but that could not to be said to be same especially now that Android OS has overtaken every Nokia OS as the favorite mobile OS.

The Nokia Lumia series can be said to be a success in the Nigerian mobile market but not as much as their Asha series. The Nokia Asha series is still the second choice phones for people who already have one smartphone or the other especially people who already owned a Samsung or Tecno Phones.

Nokia deserves to be on my list of top selling smartphone brands in Nigeria for 2013 as people still love and trust in Nokia products, though this may not last too long as more and more people are tilting towards Android. I personally will love to see Nokia build Android phones, except that may not be happening ever or at least anytime soon since Nokia is now a Microsoft partner.

Check out the best selling smartphones from Nokia at Junia Online Stores

Blackberry:

While the sale of Blackberry smartphones by RIM may be dwindling in other countries same cannot be said to be the case in Nigeria as the Nigerian mobile phone users still purchase Blackberry smartphones. The minor drop is as a result of the emergence of other smartphone brands like Tecno with their cheap mid-range smartphones, and other Android smartphone brands.

But Blackberry may be facing a stiffer competition next year in the Nigerian mobile market especially now that BBM has been made available in Android OS. The variety and high end prices of Blackberry smartphones which make people see Blackberry smartphones as status symbols may lose its grip as more and more mid-range cheap Android smartphones keep flooding the mobile market.

Check out the best selling smartphones from Blackberry at Junia Online Stores

iPhone:

iPhone is definitely the most costly smartphone brand in the Nigerian mobile market and this has made people to see its products as a status symbol and this may still be the reason why it is still selling in Nigeria. With the release of new iPhone series every year, Nigerian iPhone enthusiasts will always want to upgrade even without minding the cost.

iPhone is still a popular smartphone brand and one of the best selling smartphone brands in Nigeria in 2013 but will face even a more stringent competition next year, except it can come up with mid-range smartphones with lower costs else it will keep losing its grip as more and more Tecno smartphones takes over the market.

2014 may not see much shift in the top selling smartphone brands in Nigeria except Tecno will overtake Samsung else I don’t see how the list can change much. Other smartphone brands like HTC, Infinix, LG, Sony etc will keep scratching on the mobile market but may never break into a major player as the players seems to have been chosen already.

Check out the best selling smartphones from iPhone at Junia Online Stores

What do you think about this article? Who do you think should be included into the top selling smartphone brand in Nigeria 2013? Which smartphone brand do you think can break into a major player by 2014? Share your thoughts with me via the comments and don’t forget to subscribe to my blog while you are on it.