Kenya launches first smartphone assembly plant

Kenya has unveiled a smartphone assembling plant in the country making it the first of its kind in East Africa. Located in Athi River the East Africa Device Assembly Kenya (EADAK) will assemble affordable 4G smartphones for the Kenyan Market. The EADAK plant is a partnership between Safaricom, Jamii Telecom and Chinese firm Shenzhen TeleOne Technology was unveiled by President William Ruto on Monday. During a tour of the plant the president reiterated the governments support for the private sector.

The plant has a capacity of producing upto 3 million units annually while employing over 300 Kenyans. The plant is as after the governments promise to establish a local smartphone assembly plant. While speaking at the event, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said that the launch reaffirmed Safaricom’s belief in the power of connectivity to transform lives while driving economic progress.

Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya the number of mobile phones in thte country stood at 62.9 million as of June 2023. This figure translates to a mobile penetration of 124%. Out of this figure 30.8 million units are smartphones indicating that a large share of mobile phones in the country are feature phones popularly referred to as “Kabambe”.

According to Safaricom the assembled smartphones will be available at all Safaricom outlets and Dealer-shops. The devices currently in production are : Neon Smarta retailing at KES 7,499 and Neon Ultra goes for KES 8,999 with plans of more devices being assembled in the future including a locally assembled tablet. The smartphone will come with a complimentary screen protector, charger and earphones.

The NEON Smarta has a 5-inch LCD display powered by a 3000 mAH battery, a 5MP back camera, and a 2MP front camera. It has 2GB RAM and 32GB storage, and supports 4G networks but is locked to Faiba network or Safaricom network, depending on where you get it from.