Hard economy pushing Nigerians away from new smartphones to refurbished—Report
More details have emerged on why many Nigerian youths who are in need of smartphones to get connected are shying away from newly launched smartphones by leading manufacturers.
A three-month (January-March 2018) survey carried out by Business Hilights Intelligence Unit (BHIU), an independent research arm of Business Hilights publication, released on Tuesday in Lagos showed that percentage of Nigerian youths’ patronage in new smartphones dropped abysmally to about 75 per cent in 2018 as majority of new smartphones launched in Nigeria within the period suffered poor sales.
BHIU Report averred that “As purchasing power of Nigerians especially youths drops steadily due to rising unemployment, underemployment and mounting personal demands, many preferred to making do with low-priced refurbished smartphones that can give them similar services like new products.
Checks in leading refurbished phone markets around Alaba International, Computer Village, Ikeja and other places showed that demand for such smartphones was more for new smartphones within the period under review.
Some of the dealers say youths prefer refurbished phones not only because of their cheap prices but availability of their spare parts. They revealed that many of the newly introduced smartphones into the Nigerian market lacked after sales services and where they have such services, their charges and bureaucracies are unprecedented.
Some of the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that introduced new smartphones to the Nigerian market in the last two years included Samsung, Fero, Tecno, Nokia and others.
Though none of the OEMs agreed to speak on their sales statistics within the period, major dealers who distribute and sell the products revealed that their demands were not encouraging after all. Besides, investigations have shown that even the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has demonstrated lack of will to fight the refurbished smartphone scourge either to protect OEMs or at least drive compliance for type apporval.
