For the first time, more smartphones are being sold in South Africa than feature phones, new research shows.

Samsung Africa vice-president and chief operating officer George Ferreira, quoting GfK market research, says 51% of mobile phones sold in South Africa in March 2014 were smartphones, with the rest made up of feature phones and ultra-low-cost devices.

Citing the research data, Ferreira says that in March, 1,447m mobile phones were sold in South Africa. Of these, 750 000 were smartphones and 717 000 were what GfK calls “standard mobile phones” — feature phones and basic, entry-level devices.

In March a year ago, feature phones made up 66% of the market in SA versus 34% for smartphones (429 000 versus 837 000).

Ferreira says the marked shift in the past year is because consumers are demanding connected devices and because the cost of smartphones has come down significantly.

Already in Europe, more than 80% of phone sales are of smartphones. The remaining 20% is mainly made up of ultra-low-cost devices rather than traditional feature phones.

Though the majority of phones sold elsewhere in Africa still fall into the “standard mobile phone” category, Ferreira expects the continent will follow South Africa’s lead soon as mobile operators build out their data networks and as consumer demand expands.

“This trend will hit the rest of Africa before the end of the year,” says Ferreira. “That will be fantastic for the continent, because information will become so much more readily available.” — © 2014 NewsCentral Media