Africans planning to buy a new smartphone this year may have to spend more as rising AI demand makes the cheap devices that helped millions get online more expensive to produce.
Africa’s smartphone market is heading for its first annual slowdown in three years as rising device prices squeeze consumers, with global technology market research firm Omdia forecasting a 26% decline in shipments in 2026.
The research firm said on Thursday that smartphone shipments across the continent fell 7% year-on-year to 17.8 million units in the second quarter of 2026.
The decline was particularly pronounced at the lower end of the market, which is crucial to expanding connectivity across the continent. Shipments of smartphones priced below $100 fell 34% year-on-year, representing a decline of nearly three million devices.
Rising memory and semiconductor costs, partly linked to the boom in artificial intelligence infrastructure, are squeezing manufacturers, making the cheapest devices harder to produce profitably and pushing vendors towards more expensive phones. For consumers, this means fewer options at the bottom of the market and a bigger bill when it is time to replace their phones.
The average selling price of smartphones in Africa increased by $41 year-on-year to $202, reflecting both higher device prices and a shift towards more expensive phones. Smartphones already cost an average of 24% of monthly income in the region.
“We’re witnessing a forced upward shift in the African market,” said Manish Pravinkumar, principal analyst at Omdia. “Vendors can no longer profitably manufacture $75 smartphones, while consumers who need connectivity are increasingly having to stretch their budgets towards $200-plus devices.”