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How Shenzhen-based Transsion Won Africa’s Mobile Phone Market

by Cobus van Staden
An online ad for one of Tecno's new phones. Tecno is part of the Transsion suite of brands that have propelled the company to the largest mobile device brand on the continent. Image via Tecno Nigeria.

Africa is one of the world’s last emerging mobile phone markets, and one Chinese company is making heaps of money there. Transsion, a Shenzhen-based maker of affordable phones posted $743 million in profit last year, up 45.6% year-on-year.

While Transsion is virtually unknown in China, its Tecno, itel and Infinix brands made up 47.4% of Africa’s smartphone market. Its closest competitor, Samsung, trails behind at 21.3%. Transsion’s dominance is even starker in Africa’s still robust feature phone market, where it makes up 76.3%.

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