Chinese brand sells more mid-range smartphones in South Africa than Samsung
The local arm of the Chinese electronics giant Vivo is emerging from a bumper 2025, with its mid-range segment smartphones outselling Samsung devices in the same category in South Africa.
Vivo South Africa told MyBroadband that devices like the Vivo V60 Lite 5G and the Y29 were the top-selling devices in the country’s mid-tier segment in 2025.
This means Vivo devices consistently outsold Samsung’s Galaxy A56 and A36 smartphones in 2025. Samsung’s A-series is often cited as the top-selling in that segment locally.
Vivo’s latest mid-range smartphones in South Africa compete against Samsung’s with larger batteries and faster wired charging. The V60 Lite has a 6,500mAh cell and 90W charging.
In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy A56 features a 5,000mAh battery and 45W fast charging. The V60 Lite is slightly more expensive than the Samsung at R11,500 compared to R10,000.
The South Korean tech giant still dominated the overall smartphone market in South Africa, with a 49.97% share as of March 2026, according to Statcounter GlobalStats.
However, Vivo’s rapid growth now positions the company as the fourth top seller of Android smartphones locally since it launched its first devices — the Y11 and Y91C — in December 2019.
Since then, it has increased its South African market share in this segment to 8% and expanded to the high-tier premium segment in 2025 with the launch of the X200 Pro.
The launch of the X200 Pro was an interesting test for Vivo in the local market, as it was the company’s first premium device in South Africa and launched at a hefty price tag of R39,999.
With Vivo only known for affordable devices in the country, the brand surprised the local market with a power-user smartphone featuring the latest MediaTek processor at the time.
It also featured a high-quality camera system, with a 200MP main camera powered by Zeiss software and lens structures optimised for high-fidelity imaging.
The device found Vivo its first success in the premium segment, driven by postpaid contracts with partners like Vodacom.
Vivo launches the X300 flagship series in South Africa
In February 2026, it launched the Vivo X300 series, its latest flagship, in South Africa, superseding the X200 launch with two models in the series instead of one.
It launched the X300 and X300 Pro, and the company told us the February launch was an even bigger success. Vivo’s strategy for 2026 is to continue pushing premium devices.
“Our strategy is geared more towards high-end breakthrough, beginning with the launch of our X300 series, gaining overwhelming positive feedback from our channels and consumers.”
The X300 has already proven the strategy over the last two months since its launch, achieving 258% growth compared to the launch of the X200 Pro in 2025.
2026 will also see Vivo continue driving its postpaid market partnerships with companies like Vodacom and MTN, and it launched its V70 series in April, again aimed at countering Samsung.
Compared to the latest A-series device in South Africa, the Galaxy A57, the Vivo V70 comes with a 6,500mAh battery, and it features Zeiss photography previously reserved for flagships.
The company also matched Samsung’s recent moves and now offers 6 years of security updates for the V70, up from 4 years previously.
It believes that the new smartphone series “will help us to achieve and hopefully exceed our 2026 strategic goals.”
In response to our questions, Vivo called the worldwide chip crisis affecting its products “an impending eventuality.” Other Chinese firms have admitted to potential price hikes.
Xiaomi President Lu Weibing said late last year that he expected cost pressures to be much heavier in 2026 than in 2025 due to the ongoing memory shortage driven by AI demand.
“Some of the pressure may have to be addressed through price hikes, but price increases alone won’t be enough to digest it,” he said.
“Memory crisis aside, we ensure that our pricing has not changed since Q3 of 2025 to offer our consumers greater value for their money,” said Vivo.
“We’ll make sure to alleviate the strain of increased pricing for our customers to ensure they have the best user experience Vivo can offer at a reasonable price.”
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