Smartphone Importation Drops 13.6% in Q1 2020

By Adedapo Adesanya

The importation of smartphones into Nigeria declined by 13.6 percent between January and March, following an early hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in the largest phone maker, China.

This was disclosed in the June 2020 report by the International Data Corporation (IDC), which showed that Nigeria’s feature market suffered a 12.5 percent quarter-on-quarter decline in shipments of the gadget in Q1 2020.

According to the report, the smartphone market is experiencing a hard time because China, where the majority of the global phone manufacturers have their plants, was the epicentre of the virus and, therefore, had to lockdown earlier than the rest of the world.

The report also added that the strict lockdown enforced by the Asian giant when the virus became prevalent prevented many manufacturers from keeping up with the demand for their products.

The IDC report revealed that smartphone makers shipped 275.8 million devices between January to March 2020, which indicates an 11.9 percent drop year-on-year as well as its largest annual decline ever, as vendors complain about a shortage in supply.

Globally, the unit sales decreased from 374.9 million in the first quarter of 2019 to 299.1 million during this same period this year.

Looking ahead, the report hinted that there would be a further decline of 15.7 percent quarter-on-quarter in overall mobile phone shipments in the second quarter of 2020 as the lockdown of major businesses aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a negative impact.

This forecast follows the most significant year-on-year drop in history in the first quarter of 2020, mainly due to the novel coronavirus.

With most parts of the world still locked down with an attendant clampdown on shipments of goods, except for essentials, the supply chain continues to be disrupted.

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets.

With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries.