Telecom
Africa’s Mobile Phone Market Recovery Continues Through Second Quarter
Smartphone shipments into Africa grew 13.2% year on year in Q2 2021 to total 22.8 million devices, according to the latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC).
The firm’s Worldwide Quarterly Global Mobile Phone Tracker shows that feature phone shipments increased 11.8% over the same period to total 26.7 million units. With 54.0% share in Q2 2021, feature phones continue to account for the majority of the African mobile phone market due to their relative affordability and durability.
“After a year of unprecedented market conditions, Africa’s smartphone market is showing signs of recovery from the economic damage inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Arnold Ponela, a senior research analyst at IDC.
“The region’s largest smartphone markets each contributed to the overall growth in Q2 2021, with Nigeria (+36.7%), Egypt (+24.6%), and South Africa (+10.5%) all recording strong year-on-year increases in shipments.”
Transsion brands (Tecno, Itel, and Infinix) continued to dominate Africa’s smartphone space in Q2 2021, with 47.4% unit share. Samsung and Xiaomi followed in second and third place, with respective unit shares of 19.3% and 9.1%.
The Transsion brands (Tecno and Itel) also dominated the feature phone landscape with a combined share of 76.3%. Nokia placed third with 9.8% share of feature phone shipments in Q2 2021.
“The competitive landscape in Africa changed with Huawei out of the top five for the first time in many years, after shipments declined due to the increased weight of U.S. sanctions on the company,” says Ponela. “Taking advantage of this situation are the Chinese vendors OPPO and Xiaomi, which both saw their share of the market increase during the first half of 2021.”
In terms of price bands, devices priced below $200 accounted for 84.7% of smartphone shipments to Africa in Q2 2021. The share of smartphones priced below $100 increased from 42.0% in Q1 2021 to 45.0% in Q2 2021, while the share of devices priced $100-$200 decreased from 43.3% to 39.6% over the same period.
“Given the challenging macroeconomic conditions and subsequent increase in smartphone uptake in Africa, it’s no surprise that the sub-$100 segment was the clear hero in Q2 2021,” says Ramazan Yavuz, a research manager at IDC.
“The sub-$100 category is also benefiting from the ongoing decline in feature phone share due to vendors and mobile operators transitioning their product portfolios away from feature phones and toward affordable entry-level smartphones.”
Looking ahead, IDC expects Africa’s overall mobile phone market to grow 3.2% quarter on quarter in Q3 2021, with overall shipments to increase slightly through 2021, leading to year-on-year growth of 4.5% for the year as a whole.
“The African smartphone market is expected to recover as vaccines become more widely available, despite virus mutations causing secondary lockdowns,” says Yavuz. “The markets are now better prepared to handle the situation, with the impact of these secondary lockdowns not as severe as they were first time round.”
SHELT, a leading cybersecurity-as-a-service provider, has earned inclusion in the 2025 MSSP 250, the annual ranking of the world’s top 250 Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) by MSSP Alert, a CyberRisk Alliance publication.
SHELT
The list evaluates firms on business performance, service breadth, and industry impact, spotlighting those excelling in growth, operational excellence, and advanced managed security amid rising cyber threats. Selection criteria include annual recurring revenue, profitability, workforce expansion, business growth, and the depth of managed security offerings.
SHELT’s recognition underscores its investments in scalable security operations, threat intelligence, and tailored managed services across multiple regions, enabling clients to navigate complex risk landscapes effectively.
“Being recognised in the MSSP 250 is a meaningful milestone for our team,” stated Youssef Abillama, CEO of SHELT. “It validates our focus on building practical, resilient security services that help organisations manage risk and respond effectively to today’s evolving cyber threats.”
The company hailed the honour as testament to its teams’ dedication and expertise worldwide, reaffirming commitment to enhancing capabilities and delivering trusted cybersecurity solutions.
Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, has appointed Dina Powell McCormick, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, as its new president and vice chairman, bolstering its leadership amid aggressive AI and infrastructure expansion.
Dina Powell McCormick
The announcement, made on Monday, positions Powell McCormick – who recently stepped down from Meta’s board after eight months – to guide overall strategy, including multi-billion-dollar investments in data centres and global partnerships.
A Goldman Sachs veteran with 16 years in senior roles and prior stints as deputy national security adviser under Trump and in the Bush administration, she brings deep finance and international ties to the role.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hailed her as “uniquely qualified” for the company’s next growth phase, while President Trump praised the move on Truth Social as a “fantastic choice”.
The hire signals Meta’s efforts to strengthen White House relations, following recent dinners with Trump and U.S. investment pledges worth hundreds of billions
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has suspended the @Twitter account, replacing its profile with a standard notice citing violation of platform rules.
Musk
The action, which occurred on Sunday, January 11, left users encountering the handle greeted by a bold “Account Suspended” message on a black screen, with no details provided on the specific rules broken or the duration of the suspension.
The development has sparked widespread confusion and nostalgia among users, given that Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X in July 2023, approximately six months after acquiring the platform for $44 billion in late 2022.
The @Twitter handle had remained dormant since before Musk’s takeover, serving as a legacy remnant of the platform’s original branding, and its suspension appears to mark the final erasure of the Twitter name amid X’s ongoing efforts to combat spam, impersonation, and rule violations.
X’s official statement on the suspended page simply reads: “X suspends accounts that violate our rules,” without offering an appeal process or further explanation, unlike standard user suspensions.
Public reactions on social media ranged from humorous laments of “RIP Twitter” to speculation that the move resulted from automated moderation or a deliberate cleanup of legacy trademarks.
xAI’s Grok AI described it as a purposeful retirement of outdated elements rather than a genuine infraction, while neither Elon Musk nor X spokespeople issued any comment as of Monday morning.
This incident underscores the evolving identity of the platform under Musk’s ownership, which also saw a domain shift to x.com in 2024, further distancing it from its Twitter roots.
Industry observers note that while the suspension aligns with X’s stricter enforcement policies, the lack of transparency has fueled debates on consistency in applying rules to high-profile legacy accounts.
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