Indications have emerged showing that whereas 2017 surpassed 2016 in the number of new smartphones introduced into the Nigerian market, records show that sales in 2016 beat that of this year.
Economic analysts at Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU), said in a new report that “2016 had more sales in latest smartphones than 2017 because of the squeeze suffered by the economy within the ending year”.
“Besides, more Nigerians who are interested in using smartphones were forced to buy fairly used refurbished phones which are cheaper and to some extent, give same services as new ones.
Checks and across the counter interviews of several sales outlets of mega phone shops in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja revealed that sales were better last year than 2017 and the sales clerks traced the drop in sales to lack of disposable income amongst many Nigerians in the youth bracket who are known for changing phones and are more attracted to any newly introduced phones.
One of the Sales attendants at a leading device outlet in Lagos (name with held), told Business Hilights that “Our company is disturbed when we noticed that unlike 2016 when sales of new phones are high, since this year, we have not sold much”.
“Many of the people who usually come to ask of any new product for them to buy are no more coming since this year.
“In one of our staff meetings, one of our managers pointed that why sales are dropping is because of weak economy on one hand and the influx of London refurbished phones which has saturated the market since this year.
Some of the smartphones launched this year across the world and in Nigerian market include TECNO Spark and Spark Plus, Samsung Note 8, TECNO Phantom 8, Infinx, and the latest entrant, the iPhone X.
Nigerians prefer to buy a working refurbished smartphone between N15,000 and N20,000 than coughing out well over N50,000 for newly introduced smartphones which will equally give same service with minor feature differentials.
The iPhone X is Apple’s most recent product right after the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 plus.
Industry analysts say the market drop will continue even into 2018 and will begin to grow when the economy starts to look real up.
