Africa's smartphone market bounced back from two consecutive declines to post a sequential growth of 4.4% to 21.7 million units in the third quarter of 2017, spurred by ongoing economic recoveries in some of the continent's major markets, according to IDC.

Third-quarter shipments were down 5.5% from a year earlier, but still represented an improvement on the year-to-year performance seen in the previous two quarters.

In the feature phone space, shipments totaled 33.7 million units, down 3.6% on quarter, after increasing for the three previous quarters. However, the feature phone market was up 11.5% on year in the third quarter.

Feature phones still constitute a significant 60.8% share of the total mobile phone market as they adequately address the needs of African consumers that have limited purchasing power and require a reliable long-lasting mode of communication, particularly those in rural areas, IDC said.

Combining smartphones and feature phones together, the overall Africa mobile phone market saw shipments of 55.4 million units in the third quarter, down 0.7% on quarter but up 4.2% on year.

There were contrasting fortunes for the continent's two biggest markets, with Nigeria seeing shipments increase 1.7% on quarter, while South Africa suffered a decline of 8% over the same period.

In terms of the vendor landscape, Transsion brands continued to lead the smartphone category in the third quarter with 30.1% share, followed closely by Samsung on 26.1%.

In the feature phone space, Tecno and itel continued to dominate proceedings in the third quarter with a combined share of 58.9%.

Looking ahead, IDC expects Africa's overall mobile phone market to grow 6.2% on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2017, spurred by the increase in demand that typically accompanies the festive season. However, the forecast for the year ahead is not as positive, with IDC expecting overall shipments to remain relatively flat through 2018, with a decline in feature phone shipments and slower uptake of smartphones causing the market to contract 0.5% on year.