If you are planning on buying a new smartphone in Kenya and East Africa, you may have to dig deeper into your pocket as phone prices have spiked.
According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the hike in smartphone prices is inspired by reduced phone shipment in Kenya by more than 10 percent which has affected phone prices for the first quarter of 2022. Pundits say coronavirus outbreak has affected the production of phones by China.
IDC projects that towards the first half of 2020, the shipment will reduce by 12 percent.
“In the second quarter of 2020, the market will continue to decline due to supply chain disruptions in China. The prices of the available smartphones will also rise slightly, driven by the shortage in supply,” said Dr Ramazan Yavuz, a senior research manager at IDC, Business Daily Reports.
Dr Yavuz said that normalcy will return in the global phone market towards the end of the year’s quarter three and four.
“At this early stage of the crisis, it’s important to be circumspect and IDC’s probabilistic scenario has the virus being contained by quarter three, at which point production should fully resume,” he adds.
Other electronic goods whose prices will increase starting March include TVs and fridges.
