Samsung Leads Africa's Smartphone Market on Flexible Payments
Samsung topped Africa's smartphone market by revenue in the first quarter and by unit sales in the second, as its installment plans gained traction.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Consumer Electronics
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Samsung ranked first in Africa's smartphone market by revenue in the first quarter and took the lead in unit sales in the second quarter, when its sales volume rose 34.8 percent from a year earlier. The broader African smartphone market shrank 16.6 percent over the same quarter.
Why it matters
Flexible payment options help Samsung reach buyers who would struggle to pay the full price upfront in a market where many phones cost about $100. The results show how financing access can shape competition in one of the world's fastest-growing mobile regions.
Samsung's main Galaxy A models sell for roughly $200 in Africa, and key models offer up to six years of operating-system and security updates. The company runs 281 service locations across 38 African countries, but the extraction does not say how these updates or service coverage compare with rivals.
The players
Samsung
Samsung is the South Korean electronics giant whose Galaxy line competes in the global smartphone market.
TechInsights
TechInsights is a technology market research firm that publishes smartphone sales forecasts.
Watu
Watu is a financing provider that partners with Samsung on installment-based phone purchases in Africa.
M-KOPA
M-KOPA is a pay-as-you-go financing company that partners with Samsung to sell phones on installment plans in Africa.
The details
Samsung's pay-by-day and pay-by-week financing plans accounted for 46 percent of its African smartphone revenue this year. Buyers make a small down payment and pay off the balance in daily or weekly installments using mobile money, with Samsung working alongside carriers and financing providers including Watu and M-KOPA.
Timeline
Samsung entered the African region in 1995.
First quarter (2026): Samsung ranked first in Africa by smartphone revenue.
Second quarter (2026): Samsung took the lead in African unit sales.
Year-end 2026: Samsung is projected to end the year with 38.7 percent of unit sales.
The Tech Race
Samsung's payment-plan strategy builds on the mobile-money infrastructure that handled $1.4 trillion in sub-Saharan Africa last year. The move positions the company against rivals who have not matched that financing reach in a market where many phones cost about $100.
Buyers who cannot pay the full price upfront can now get a Samsung phone through small daily or weekly payments made with mobile money. Those payments run for the length of the plan, so the total cost over time is higher than the sticker price suggests.
The takeaway
Installment and mobile-money payments are becoming a key way phone makers win customers who lack access to upfront cash. Shoppers comparing phones should weigh the total cost of payment plans against the upfront price.
Further reading
Explore more on Consumer Electronics to see how phone makers are reaching new buyers worldwide.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Korea Herald.
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