Smartphone Penetration Statistics for South Africa in 2024
Whether you’re a dedicated iPhone user, swear by Android, or someone who uses a less well-known operating system - you’ll likely know a thing or two about the capabilities of smartphones. But just how prevalent is smartphone use in South Africa in 2024? Which brands and models are most popular? And what do predictions for the South African smartphone market look like?
In this article we reveal all of this and more, covering the most up-to-date iPhone statistics, Android statistics and mobile network facts and figures for the country.
Smartphone Usage Statistics: Key Facts and Figures
No time to scroll? No problem. Here are our key findings
- Apple is the most sought-after brand of smartphone in South Africa, followed by Samsung, Huawei, Oppo and Hisense.
- In terms of smartphone models, the iPhone 13 & 14 take the lead, closely followed by the Samsung Galaxy A12 and A13.
- However, when it comes to market share, Samsung has the biggest share (48%), followed by Huawei (22.1%) then Apple (16.5%).
- As of 2024, approximately 82.5%of South Africans are predicted to have and use a smartphone of some kind.
- In 2020, the South African mobile phones market had total revenues of $5.6 billion, which is expected to rise to $7.9 billion this year (2024).
- 25 to 34 year-olds in South Africa are the most likely age group to access the internet via smartphones, as they account for almost a third of all users in the country.
- Mobile Network providers Vodacom and MTN have won the most awards for mobile phone experience categories such as 5G availability, download speed and best gaming experiences.
Which Smartphone Brand is Most Popular in South Africa?
We’ve all heard of leading smartphone brands such as Apple and Samsung and many of us will be familiar with the likes of Nokia, Hisense and Vivo. But as of 2024, which smartphone manufacturer is officially the most popular in South Africa?
To find out, we conducted an analysis of Google searches carried out over the last few years in South Africa for all mobile phone brands that have a market share of at least 1%. We conducted the analysis using the tool Keyword Finder and found:
- The most popular smartphone brand in South Africa is - unsurprisingly - Apple!
- With the search term ‘iPhone’ having been typed into Google a whopping 93,750 times per month on average in 2023. This makes Apple twice as popular as the second-ranking smartphone brand - Samsung.
- Also amongst the top 5 most searched-for phone brands in South Africa are Huawei, Oppo and Hisense.
| Rank | Brand | Average Monthly searches 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | iPhone | 93,750 |
| 2. | Samsung Phone | 40,767 |
| 3. | Huawei phone | 26,283 |
| 4. | Oppo phone | 20,208 |
| 5. | Hisense phone | 9,483 |
| 6. | Vivo Phone | 9,517 |
| 7. | Nokia phone | 6,975 |
| 8. | Xiaomi phone | 4,667 |
| 9. | LG phone | 3,100 |
| 10. | Sony phone | 2,150 |
Our study also looked at how the popularity of these smartphone brands has changed over the last 3 years, and found that:
- Apple has consistently remained the most popular smartphone brand in Africa for the last 3 years.
- Searches for all mobile phone manufacturers have increased year-on-year since 2020, except for Nokia, LG and Sony, whose popularity has either decreased or stayed the same over the last 3 years.
- As you can see from the graph, one of the biggest newcomers to the smartphone market was Oppo, going from a monthly average of just 141 searches in 2020 to an impressive 20,208 in 2022.
Smartphone Market Share Data for South Africa
So how does this compare to market share data? According to share of the market, is Apple still the most popular smartphone brand? Or could its competitors be taking the lead?
We analyzed Statcounter’s Mobile Vendor Market Share data for South Africa to find out just that:
- The smartphone brand that holds the largest market share in South Africa is Samsung, with an impressive 48.4% of the market in 2022.
- This is followed by Huawei (22.1%) then Apple (16.5%).
- As of 2022, Xiaomi, Nokia and Oppo also feature in the top 5 leading smartphone brands that make up South Africa’s smartphone market.
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung | 44.90% | 46.54% | 48.40% |
| Huawei | 29.05% | 27.58% | 22.11% |
| Apple | 15.06% | 15.47% | 16.50% |
| Xiaomi | 0.88% | 1.29% | 2.39% |
| Nokia | 2.06% | 2.07% | 2.23% |
| Oppo | 0.18% | 0.48% | 1.87% |
| Vivo | 0.02% | 0.53% | 1.19% |
| Hisense | 1.04% | 0.77% | 0.76% |
| LG | 1.28% | 1.16% | 0.76% |
| Sony | 1.10% | 0.65% | 0.33% |
| Other | 4.43% | 3.46% | 3.46% |
Most Popular Phone Models in South Africa
From the latest iPhones to the oldest Nokias and everything in between - which model of smartphone is the most popular in South Africa? To find out, we delved back into the Keyword Finder tool to discover which smartphone models are searched online the most.
Our research revealed the top 25 smartphone models of 2022 are:
- When it comes to interest online, the iPhone 13 & 14 are the most sought after smartphone models by a long way, with an average of 181,000 and 139,000 monthly searches, respectively.
- The next most desired phone models on the market in South Africa appear to be the Samsung Galaxy A12 and A13, racking up more than 100,000 searches per month each!
- Other recent iPhone models also feature in the top 10 most-searched, as does the Samsung Galaxy A23 and the Huawei nova 9.
| Rank | Handset | Average monthly searches in South Africa |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | iPhone 13 | 181,000 |
| 2. | iPhone 14 | 139,000 |
| 3. | a12 | 107,000 |
| 4. | a13 | 105,000 |
| 5. | iPhone XR | 77,000 |
| 6. | iPhone 8 | 75,700 |
| 7. | iPhone 7 | 58,900 |
| 8. | iPhone 12 pro max | 51,500 |
| 9. | a23 | 49,000 |
| 10. | nova 9 | 45,500 |
| 11. | a53 | 42,600 |
| 12. | iPhone 6 | 37,900 |
| 12. | iPhone 6 | 37,900 |
| 13. | a03 | 37,500 |
| 14. | iPhone 8 plus | 37,100 |
| 15. | a33 | 36,800 |
| 16. | iPhone 7 plus | 32,200 |
| 17. | p50 | 31,800 |
| 18. | s22 ultra | 30,400 |
| 19. | iPhone XS | 27,900 |
| 20. | p40 | 26,500 |
| 21. | a52 | 25,500 |
| 22. | a20 | 24,600 |
| 23. | C20 | 24,000 |
| 24. | a03s | 22,700 |
| 25. | reno 7 | 20,500 |
Mobile phone market size data South Africa
Over the last few decades, mobile phone use has skyrocketed worldwide, as they’ve become not only communication devices, but also navigation tools, cameras, calculators, research devices and more! People all over the world are willing to part with significant chunks of their hard-earned cash to get themselves the latest models and highest spec phones on the market. So just how much is the mobile phone market valued at in South Africa?
To find out, we took a look at Research & Market’s most recent Market Summary, Competitive Analysis and Forecast to 2025, which revealed:
- As of 2020, the South African mobile phones market had total revenues of $5.6 billion.
- This is predicted to rise to an impressive $7.9 Billion by this year (2024).
Smartphone Penetration Statistics for South Africa
So it’s clear that many individuals in South Africa head to Google when looking for new phones - which appears to be on a regular basis! But statistically, exactly how many people use smartphones in South Africa in 2024?
To discover South Africa’s most up to date smartphone penetration data and projections for the future, we took a look at the number of users who access the internet via mobile broadband connection (regardless of the device).
This revealed that:
- By 2028, smartphone penetration rates in South Africa are expected to reach 91.31%.
- Predictions for this year (2024) stand at approximately 82.5%.
- That’s an increase of almost 80% since the previous decade, where the year 2013 saw a smartphone penetration rate of just 2.9%.
Smartphone Use and Age
Which age groups are most likely to use smartphones in 2024? Is it the youngest members of South African society? Or perhaps those a little older, who’ve had time to save up for these, often expensive products? A study conducted in 2021 found that:
- Most South African internet users accessing the internet via their smartphones are aged between 25 and 34, as they account for almost a third of all users in the country.
- This is closely followed by 15 to 24, as over a quarter of individuals who use smartphones to access the internet belong to this age group.
- The least likely age group to use smartphones appears to be those aged 65+, as they account for just 3.1% of smartphone users.
South Africa mobile signal coverage facts and figures
As we’ve seen, smartphone and mobile phone use has been increasing in prevalence in South Africa for the last decade. But just how strong are mobile signal provisions across the country?
To find out, we obtained mobile data coverage information from Opensignal.com’s Mobile Experience Awards for South Africa in 2022. These awards were based on an analysis of 5G mobile experiences alongside consistency data of the country’s four national operators: Cell C, MTN, Telkom and Vodacom.
The table below shows the winners of awards for a wide range of user experience categories, from download speed to gaming, 5G voice apps to general coverage and 5G availability.
- Vodacom received awards in more mobile experience categories than any other network provider, getting first place for video, gaming and voice applications, as well as consistency quality.
- They were also joint winners with MTN for a number of categories including the 5G video experience category, alongside 5G games, voice app and download speed.
- MTN also won a number of awards such as general download and upload speed, 5G upload speed and 5G availability.
- Whilst Telkom took first place for the availability in the coverage category.
We hope this roundup of the latest iPhone and Android statistics, facts and figures have sparked some interest! If you’re thinking about buying a new phone or would like to find out more about Ubuy’s offerings, head over to our website here.
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