Smartphones (Kazakhstan market)

Global Smartphone Market

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2025: Kazakhstan began to block illegally imported smartphones. Interlock operation principle

From March 24, 2025, new rules for registering mobile devices are introduced in Kazakhstan, which, among other things, provide for the blocking of illegally imported smartphones. In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, white, gray and black lists of devices will be formed based on the international identifier of mobile equipment (IMEI).

As stated in the document, the white list is a register of cellular subscriber devices that are allowed to provide mobile services: information about such smartphones has been successfully verified and included in the identity code database (BDIC). The gray list will include devices with an unconfirmed status temporarily included in the BDIK: the owners will have 30 days to provide evidence about the legality of the purchase. Blacklisted sets, in turn, will be completely prohibited from providing communication services. Devices will be included in such a register:

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Фото: Freepik

• Identification code of which is incorrect or changed;
• In which there is no identification code assigned by the manufacturer;
• The identification code of which is blacklisted from the Global Mobile Communications System (GSMA) association database;
• According to which there is no confirmation of information on the production and (or) repair of cellular subscriber devices on the territory of Kazakhstan in accordance with the procedure established by law, and (or) information on the import of cellular subscriber devices into the territory of the republic in accordance with customs and tax legislation.

Under the new rules, mobile operators in Kazakhstan are required to notify owners of the status of their devices. If the smartphone is on the gray list and has not passed the check on time, it is automatically blacklisted and completely blocked.^[1]

2020: 6.7% increase to 4.3 million units

The volume of the Kazakhstan smartphone market at the end of 2020 amounted to 4.3 million units, an increase of 6.7% compared to 2019. Sales of all types of mobile phones (including simple push-button models) rose by 11%, to 4.7 million units. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company IDC.

Experts noted that the main demand in Kazakhstan falls on smartphones, and the share of push-button devices in 2020 amounted to only 9.1%.

Kazakhstan smartphone market ends the year on the rise

The local market has grown well, given how much Kazakhstan has suffered from the coronavirus [COVID-19], says Natalia Milko, senior analyst at IDC EMEA. - As an oil-producing country, Kazakhstan experienced a drop in the tenge exchange rate in the spring of 2020, and then the impact of the pandemic itself.

Smartphone shipments decreased in the first half of the year due to the first lockdown from March to May, and then the second in July-August. As a result, the second quarter was particularly weak as retail sales moved online.

With the resumption of shopping centers and stores at the end of summer, there was a rapid recovery in sales, and despite the lockdown in the summer months, in the third quarter, sales increased by 20.8% compared to the same period in 2019. In the fourth quarter, the market volume remained at the level of 2019.

Among vendors, the biggest change of the year was the fall in Huawei's stake. By the fourth quarter of 2020, it had declined to 2.8% from almost a quarter of the smartphone market in early 2019, one of the lowest rates in Eastern Europe.

Huawei's share has partially passed to Samsung, which has a strong position in Kazakhstan and regularly occupies up to half of the smartphone market. Xiaomi has doubled its share in a year and OPPO shipments also continue to grow rapidly.

Apple remains a relatively small player in the market, Milko said, and the impact of the 5G-enabled iPhone 12 range launched in November has been limited.^[2]

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