Biggest phone brands in South Africa from 1994 to 2024

Over the past three decades, mobile phone sales in South Africa have been led by a range of brands from various countries.
Mobile network technology has advanced greatly since 1994, when commercial cellular services debuted in South Africa, as have the devices that provide access to this connectivity.
Several major players were present in the South African market up to 2000, many of which enjoyed high demand abroad.
During that time, ever-decreasing sizes and weights were a key focus for winning customers.
By the time Vodacom and MTN launched their networks, there were already highly compact options on the market.
Motorola’s MicroTAC, one of the smallest and lightest phones of the time, was the first big local release.
One of its key features was a mouthpiece that folded over the keyboard, creating the basis for what would eventually become the flip phone.
Like all the early phones, it had an external, extendable antenna to acquire a proper signal.
In 1995, it was Nokia’s turn to impress with its 909 model, which tipped the scales at just 193 grams.
For reference, the latest iPhone 16 Pro Max weighs 227 grams.
The Nokia 909’s antenna was fixed and significantly shorter than Motorola’s MicroTAC.
However, it was Motorola’s StarTac, released in 1996, that was the world’s first widely popular cellular phone.
With inspiration from Star Trek, Motorola made the device the world’s first full flip phone, with an earpiece that covered the entire keypad and screen when closed.
In 1996, Ericsson’s GH688 became a hit due to its even lighter weight of 160 grams and what was a very large screen for the time.
The Ericsson T10 from the following year was even lighter and more compact and featured a monochrome graphic screen boasting a 101 x 33 pixel resolution.
It also featured bright colours to set itself apart from the primarily black and grey devices of the time.
In 1998, Nokia’s 5110 introduced users to one of the first popular mobile games — Snake.
However, it was in last year of the 20th century that the Finnish company gave birth to a true legend — the Nokia 3210 — one of the first mobile phones without an external antenna.
The phone’s compact design, 5-line monochrome screen, long-lasting battery, downloadable monophonic ringtones, and swappable front and back plates made it a hit around the world — including South Africa.
Below are photos of some of the top-selling cell phones from the 1990s, which included the first six years of cellular connectivity in South Africa.
Pictures are courtesy of the Mobile Phone Museum, Science Museum Group Collection, and The Gadget Museum.






1999 to 2010 — The Nokia years
It was during the late 90s and early 2000s that South Africa had its first undisputed mobile phone market leader.
Nokia was the country’s top-selling phone brand for at least the first decade of the 21st century.
The Finnish brand was popular on local shores and dominated global sales, peaking at around 39% in 2008.
Its noteworthy devices in the early 2000s included:
- Nokia 3310 (2000) — The successor to the highly successful 3210 also amassed big sales numbers.
- Nokia 3510, 6100, and 6610 (2002 and 2003) — First phones with colour screens. Also supported WAP Internet browsing, vibration motors, and downloadable polyphonic ringtones.
- Nokia 1100 (2003) — With more than 250 million units sold worldwide, this model remains the best-selling mobile phone to date.
- Nokia 6600 (2003) — First widely adopted phone with built-in camera
Motorola also saw a brief resurgence in South Africa with the Razr V3, released in 2004. The Razr was the best-selling flip phone, racking up 60 million sales worldwide.
While the game-changing iPhone debuted in 2007, it was primarily big tech lovers who were interested in touchscreen smartphones in their early years.
The first iPhone also didn’t have 3G or MMS capabilities, and Apple wouldn’t launch the App Store until mid-2008.
Below is a selection of the some of biggest Nokia releases from the early 2000s.




2011 to 2014 — BlackBerry
Nokia still had a commanding market share in South Africa until about 2014, due to a wide range of devices suited to many budgets.
However, BlackBerry was immensely popular locally between 2011 and 2013 and had the top-selling individual models during those years.
While initially a sought-after piece for professionals, its appeal broadened quickly due to BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS).
BBM supported much cheaper texting, and BIS allowed for unlimited basic Internet access and web surfing at a flat rate of R60 per month.
A key release in South Africa was the more affordable BlackBerry Curve 8520, first launched in 2009.
South Africa’s love affair with BlackBerry lasted longer than the rest of the world.
While much of the world was moving on from physical keyboards to touchscreens, BlackBerry’s offer of uncapped mobile data for R60 per month in South Africa was unbeaten.
Unfortunately, several major BIS outages cast doubts about the platform’s reliability and caused South Africans to look to iPhone and Android-based smartphones for their next devices.
However, the end of BlackBerry in South Africa was when it launched devices powered by its new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system that used regular data bundles.
Without an uncapped mobile data package to anchor its value proposition, South Africans abandoned BlackBerry in droves.

2015 to 2024 — Samsung
Samsung was the brand that first convinced most South African phone buyers that touchscreens were the way forward.
It already saw some popularity with its own slide-out bar phones and flip-phones during the first decade of the 21st century, including 2005’s E250 and 2009’s E1100.
However, it was ultimately the flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series that grew the South Korean giant’s local appeal.
While the first Samsung Galaxy S was launched in South Africa in 2010, 2012’s Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note II were among the brand’s first local hits.
The subsequent Galaxy S3, S3 Mini, and S4 were the strong devices that helped push Samsung into the country’s top-selling phone brand by 2015, surpassing both BlackBerry and Nokia.
Although Samsung was not the first to use Google’s Android operating system on its phones, Samsung’s capable hardware and price competitiveness made it popular.
In addition to undercutting other Android-based smartphones, Samsung smartphones were priced significantly lower than Apple’s iPhones in South Africa.
The Galaxy S5, for example, cost R8,441 at launch in 2012, compared with R10,750 for the iPhone 6, which became Apple’s best-selling smartphone worldwide.
While Samsung has seen strong competition from Apple, Huawei, and several Chinese manufacturers in recent years, it still dominates the market, with nearly one in every two phone sales being from the South Korean brand.
While its flagship pricing has reached parity with Apple’s iPhones in recent years, it offers an extensive line-up of budget and mid-range smartphones in the Galaxy A-series.
Many of these devices have been praised for offering great value for money, which appeals greatly to price-sensitive South Africans.
Below are some of Samsung’s biggest smartphone releases in South Africa.





