New research by Analytico has shown that Samsung is the clear leader in Android smartphones in South Africa, while Huawei’s market share is declining rapidly.
This is based on data collected on the MyBroadband Android Speedtest app between the start of 2020 and Q1 2024.
We compared the number of unique devices that performed tests using the app by manufacturer.
The data shows consistent growth for Samsung, from a 49.27% market share in 2020 to more than 65% in the first quarter of 2024.
Huawei has shown the most significant decline in popularity, from close to 40% in 2020 to just 12.5% in Q1 2024.
Huawei was placed on the US government entity list in the middle of 2019, which blocked it from doing business with American companies — including Google.
This means that although newer Huawei devices could still ship with Android-based operating systems, they no longer had access to Google services.
This prevented many popular apps from working as they should, and many users had to resort to complicated workarounds to get their devices working like they wanted.
The graph below shows the rise and fall of popularity for Samsung and Huawei devices.
Other brands, such as LG and Nokia, are also declining in popularity, as they have not had any competitive devices in the South African market in the past few years.
Newer Chinese brands are picking up the slack, with Xiaomi up to 7% in the latest stats, up from 3% in 2020, while Oppo and Honor have increased to 4% and 3%, respectively.
These three brands are releasing competitive devices in South Africa and marketing them aggressively, which creates a good impression among consumers.
The data from the MyBroadband Speedtest app is biased towards tech enthusiasts, but it correlates well with previous data from StatCounter GlobalStats, which shows Samsung is in a clear lead in South Africa.
The table below shows the Android smartphone market share of different manufacturers.
| South African Android Smartphone Market | |||||
| Manufacturer | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Q1 |
| Samsung | 49.27% | 54.69% | 59.96% | 62.98% | 65.52% |
| Huawei | 38.25% | 32.48% | 22.72% | 16.72% | 12.50% |
| Xiaomi | 3.05% | 3.83% | 5.71% | 6.78% | 7.00% |
| Oppo | <0.50% | 0.60% | 2.55% | 3.84% | 4.05% |
| Honor | <0.50% | <0.50% | <0.50% | 1.48% | 3.03% |
| Vivo | <0.50% | <0.50% | 0.70% | 1.06% | 1.27% |
| Hisense | 0.83% | 1.08% | 1.22% | 0.90% | 1.03% |
| LG | 1.97% | 1.81% | 1.12% | 0.70% | <0.50% |
| Nokia | 1.42% | 1.08% | 0.99% | 0.58% | 0.63% |
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