In the first quarter of 2025, data from Canalys revealed that three brands under China's Transsion Holdings—TECNO, itel, and Infinix—together captured over 46% of the African smartphone market, ranking first. In other words, nearly one in every two phones sold on the continent comes from this Chinese company. Transsion is a name few people in China are familiar with, yet it has quietly become a dominant force in one of the world’s most challenging markets. How did this little
Transsion: From OEM to Market Leader
Founded in 2006, Transsion started out making feature phones and entered the African market around 2010. While global giants were busy targeting high-end customers in Europe and North America, Transsion set its sights on the "overlooked mass market." It executed a three-step strategy to establish dominance:
1、Product Localization: Features like multi-SIM support, optimized night photography, and beautification algorithms tailored for darker skin tones gave it a competitive edge.
For instance, understanding that many African users carry multiple SIM cards, Transsion launched phones with dual-, triple-, and even quad-SIM functionality.
In terms of photography, Transsion was one of the first to develop camera technology optimized for darker skin tones. Building on its leadership in this niche, the company created a proprietary skin-tone imaging database to better serve the diverse beauty preferences across African markets.
Universal Tone
Source：TECNO Imaging Technology Showcase
2、Deep Market Penetration: Extensive Distribution Network + Saturation Marketing + After-Sales Infrastructure
Transsion employs a sales model primarily driven by local distributors, with limited involvement from telecom operators. Across Africa, the company works with over 360 distributors, extending its reach from developed urban centers to lower-tier towns and rural areas. Transsion has established a vast network of retail stores—among them, 20 distributors generate over 100 million RMB in annual sales, and 150 surpass 10 million RMB.
So how did Transsion build such a robust sales channel?
First, by partnering with “seed players.” When entering the African market, Transsion carefully selected lesser-known but high-potential local agents, forming strong, early partnerships. In a bold move, they even adopted a “pay-first, ship-later” model, offering generous terms such as: “If you lose money, it’s on us; if you make money, it’s yours.” This approach helped them quickly secure a reliable and loyal sales network deeply rooted in the African market.
Second, by targeting key players. Transsion’s distribution network is structured into two tiers: national distributors (or "master distributors") and local resellers. The national-level partners are typically influential individuals or entities. Transsion first focused on capturing key territories by working with powerful master distributors who could integrate regional resources. At the grassroots level, Transsion emphasized small independent retailers, such as family-owned shops and high-footfall market stalls, supported by a strong in-house sales team that aggressively expanded their presence.
On the marketing front, Transsion adopted a “rural-first” strategy, surrounding cities from the countryside. In rural areas, they plastered ads on the walls of prominent buildings—so much so that in many places, “if there’s a wall, there’s a Transsion ad.” According to the company’s financial reports, sales and marketing expenses accounted for nearly 8% of revenue, compared to Xiaomi’s 7% in the same period.
Importantly, Transsion was the first foreign mobile phone company to build an after-sales service network in Africa. In 2009, it launched its customer support brand Carlcare. By 2024, Carlcare had established 86 official service centers and over 1,000 repair stations across Africa—making it the largest mobile service network on the continent.
Through a localized distributor moat, grounded and relatable marketing, and a strong service infrastructure, Transsion has deeply embedded itself in the African consumer market.
Saturation Marketing
Source：ITEdgeNews
3、Pricing Strategy: Targeting Mainstream Consumers with Phones Priced Between $50 and $150
In the African mobile phone market, over 80% of devices are priced below $200. Transsion’s multiple sub-brands have strategically focused on this high-demand price segment under $200, offering a product range that spans low-end, mid-range, and even some high-end smartphones.
According to IDC data, in the fourth quarter of 2024, devices priced under $100 accounted for 49% of shipments in Africa—an increase of 10 percentage points compared to 39% in 2023. This marks the fastest growth in this segment over the past five years. This surge is primarily driven by entry-level phones from brands like Transsion, Xiaomi, and Realme.
South Africa: Both an Opportunity and a Battleground
1、A Young Population: Average Age 27, High Digital Native Ratio, Strong Preference for Smart Devices
Looking at South Africa’s demographic structure, in 2023, the working-age population accounted for 88.79% of the total, with over 50% aged between 15 and 30, highlighting a distinctly young population.
Moreover, as noted in our previous article “The Rainbow Journey of Chinese Enterprises in South Africa,” South Africa’s internet penetration rate stands at 74.7%, with approximately 26 million social media users—representing 42.8% of the population. Internet usage is extremely high: users aged 16 to 64 spend on average more than 9 hours online daily, with 3 hours and 41 minutes spent on social media—far exceeding the global average of 1 hour and 18 minutes.
South African youth are highly receptive to the internet, with smartphones as their main gateway to the online world. Transsion’s focus on the young market segment has helped it capture a large hardware market share, which in turn fosters a flourishing software ecosystem. For example:
Partnering with NetEase, Transsion offers Boomplay, a music streaming app with 68 million monthly active users and a library of over 90 million tracks, currently one of Africa’s leading music platforms.
Through collaboration with Tencent, the Phoenix content distribution app reaches 120 million monthly active users, making it Africa’s top comprehensive content platform.
Transsion’s own news aggregation app, Scooper, ranks among Africa’s premier information and content platforms, with 55 million monthly active users.
Additionally, Transsion launched Palmpay, a mobile payment app often described as the “African version of Alipay.”
The youthful demographic provides a strong foundation for the growth of smartphone sales. Recent data from Counterpoint for Q1 2025 shows smartphone shipments in the Middle East and Africa grew 7% year-on-year, while global smartphone shipments increased by only 0.2% in the same period.
2、Rising Consumer Brand Awareness: Expanding Middle Class with Strong Preferences for Brands, Design, and Social Features
With continuous income growth among South Africans, the middle class is steadily expanding. As the largest economy in Africa, South Africa’s middle class now accounts for over one-third of the population. Given Africa’s economic growth rate still surpasses the global average, the middle class is expected to continue growing, driving upgraded consumption demands and stronger brand consciousness.
We recommend Chinese consumer brands to not only focus on the low-end market but also actively develop their presence among mid- and high-end customer segments.
3、Strong Local Compliance Requirements: B-BBEE and Black Economic Empowerment
Compared to other regions where localization often only requires hiring a certain percentage of local employees (for example, private enterprises in Saudi Arabia must have 20%-30% Saudi nationals), South Africa imposes stricter rules on foreign companies. Specifically, black ownership must constitute at least 25% of equity, and there must be sufficient black representation in senior management positions.
Chinese companies expanding into South Africa need to pay close attention to these local ownership and management requirements under the B-BBEE framework.
4、Fierce Market Competition: Chinese Domestic Phone Makers Strengthen Their Push into Africa, Posing Growth Challenges for Transsion
Last year, Xiaomi held approximately 13% market share in Africa and expressed ambitions to grow that to 20%-30%, prioritizing scale expansion as a key strategy. In Q1 2025, Xiaomi’s shipments in Africa grew 36%, driven mainly by strong performance in Egypt and Nigeria and robust sales of the Redmi 14C and A-series models.
In contrast, Transsion’s shipment volume declined by 5% over the same period, signaling rising competitive pressure.
Transsion vs. Global Brands: Who Understands Africa Better?
Transsion’s success in Africa is not a coincidence or an isolated case. It represents a systematic victory driven by Chinese companies’ strengths in industrial chain integration, early localization strategies, agile operations, and highly adaptive marketing.
1、Strong Supply Chain Integration
Backed by complete electronics manufacturing ecosystems in places like Shenzhen, Chinese companies can achieve rapid prototyping and large-scale production at unmatched speed. In contrast, global brands like Samsung and Apple often face slower supply chain response times and less flexibility in scaling production within the African context.
2、Early Localization Mindset
Unlike many Western brands that follow a one-size-fits-all global strategy, Chinese companies are more willing to rebuild from scratch for each market. Transsion, for example, targeted the African market from the very beginning. As a result, it has accumulated rich behavioral data from African users and has developed sharper user insights compared to traditional Western approaches.
3、Strong Content and Marketing Adaptability
Chinese brands excel at leveraging platforms like TikTok (Douyin) to collaborate with local influencers and generate high-conversion content. Transsion has continuously innovated in its marketing strategy—starting with outdoor ads, moving on to sponsoring sports events and local celebrities, and now embracing influencer marketing through social platforms to amplify its brand presence.
By contrast, many international brands still rely on more conservative and traditional marketing approaches, which often fail to resonate deeply with local consumers.
Conclusion: From "Going Global" to "Taking Root"
Transsion’s success in Africa is not simply about “selling Chinese products abroad,” but rather a co-creative approach to globalization, grounded in deep understanding of the African market and long-term observation of local consumers. This not only serves as a model for other Chinese consumer brands seeking global expansion, but also marks a broader shift in the logic of Chinese companies going global—from "exporting" to "integrating."
Today, global smartphone brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, and HONOR are ramping up their presence in Africa, achieving notable results. In particular, HONOR recorded an impressive 250% year-on-year shipment growth in Africa in Q1 2025.
Facing increasingly intense competition, Transsion is also actively exploring new frontiers to maintain its leadership in the African market. Recent reports indicate that Transsion Holdings has established a mobility division, venturing into the two-wheeler electric vehicle space. The company is rapidly expanding this product line not only across Africa but also in other developing countries.
In addition, addressing Africa’s frequent power outages, Transsion launched the itel Energy home energy storage series. These products feature modular designs with detachable main units and customizable lithium battery packs, offering flexible energy solutions for local users.
Whether it’s Transsion expanding into new business areas or brands like Xiaomi and HONOR penetrating new markets, local adaptation and high-quality products remain the most powerful tools for Chinese brands competing on the global stage.