Chinese-made phones are calling the shots in Africa as they beat global giants Samsung and Apple

Chinese company Transsion leads the African mobile market, with its three brands – Tecno, Infinix and iTel – holding 48 per cent of the market share

The brands have never been sold in China, but have come to dominate the affordable phone segment across the continent and are expanding into other markets

Reading Time:5 minutes

Published: 4:00pm, 3 Mar 2024

Along the bustling Luthuli Avenue in downtown Nairobi, banners and billboards advertise mobile phones to the throng of shoppers passing by.

The blue, red, black and white storefronts in the busy Kenyan shopping district denote the colours associated with some of Africa’s bestselling phone brands – Tecno, Infinix and iTel.

They are all phones that are made in China. But most people in mainland China will not have heard of them. After all, they have never been sold there.

That is because all three phone brands are manufactured by Transsion, a Shenzhen-based company that made its fortune exclusively selling phones in Africa – before it expanded into other markets such as Latin America, India, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

In fact, Transsion has made such a success of its sales strategy that in 2023 its Tecno brand sold more smartphones in the Middle East and Africa than Samsung or Apple.

It is a feat that has helped cement Chinese tech diplomacy in the region – and has in turn attracted a growing number of Chinese technology firms into Africa and the Middle East.

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