Global smartphone shipments will fall a record 13.9 per cent this year to 1.08 billion units, Counterpoint Research said on Monday, blaming a worsening memory chip shortage.
The downgrade from a 12.4 per cent drop projected in February reflects tighter chip supplies, strained further by the Iran war. Chipmakers are diverting capacity to memory used in artificial intelligence systems, starving the cheap handsets that anchor markets across Africa.
That squeeze matters in Ghana, where budget devices dominate. Counterpoint expects some models priced below $150 to vanish, the very tier most Ghanaian buyers depend on. Wholesale prices already climbed 14 per cent in the first quarter as shipments slipped.
Wang Yang, a principal analyst at Counterpoint, said low and mid range makers are trapped between rising costs and cash strapped buyers. For some firms, he said, the question is now “whether to remain in the market at all.”
The premium end is holding up. Apple posted record quarterly revenue on strong demand for its iPhone 17 line, and Counterpoint sees its shipments flat in 2026 before rising 5 per cent next year. Samsung, cushioned by secure supplies, faces a milder 4 per cent fall.
The pain concentrates at the bottom. Transsion, whose Tecno, Infinix and itel brands lead sales across Ghana and much of Africa, is forecast to ship 32 per cent fewer phones this year. Xiaomi and Honor face drops of 28 and 20 per cent.
For Ghanaian buyers, the likely result is fewer cheap options and steady upward pressure on prices, as stockpiles built before the crunch run down over the coming months.
