Waziri Mayai Wa Maradhi
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 28, 2026
- 381
- 94
Kenya had 78.3 million mobile phones linked to its networks as of the end of December 2025. Of those, 29,620,022 were feature phones and 48,726,982 were smartphones.
There are already about 20 million more smartphones than feature phones, and the difference is growing every quarter.
A year prior, in December 2024, there were 12,709,372 on 2G, the most popular network for feature phones, and 34,782,128 smartphones. The change has accelerated dramatically.
Smartphones increased by 4,073,657 between September and December of 2025 alone, while feature phones decreased by 776,465.
With a current smartphone penetration rate of 92.9%, nearly 93 out of every 100 mobile phones on Kenyan networks are smartphones. In the meantime, the percentage of people using feature phones has decreased to 56.5%.
The difference in price between a basic smartphone and a basic feature phone is now so small that the smartphone frequently offers better value.
But the change isn't taking place in a vacuum. Services that only function (or function much better) on smartphones are driving it ahead.
Nearly every adult mobile user in Kenya has a mobile money account, with a penetration rate of 98%.
The app-based experience, which includes access to loans, savings products, and merchant payments through QR codes, requires a smartphone, however M-Pesa's basic USSD service is compatible with feature phones.
The research indicates that SMS is being actively replaced by internet-based communications.
The most obvious picture is provided by mobile data subscriptions by network generation. Kenya had 12,709,372 2G mobile data subscriptions as of December 2024. That dropped to 10,444,616 by December 2025.
In the same time frame, 4G subscriptions increased by about 9.4 million, from 34,782,128 to 44,158,342. With 1,735,042 memberships, 5G is still a modest market, but in only one year, it surged by 71.6%.
3G has a narrative of its own. Subscriptions fell from 5,686,498 to 5,656,599 between September and December 2025, indicating that it peaked somewhere between these measurement points and is now reducing as well.
There are already about 20 million more smartphones than feature phones, and the difference is growing every quarter.
A year prior, in December 2024, there were 12,709,372 on 2G, the most popular network for feature phones, and 34,782,128 smartphones. The change has accelerated dramatically.
Smartphones increased by 4,073,657 between September and December of 2025 alone, while feature phones decreased by 776,465.
With a current smartphone penetration rate of 92.9%, nearly 93 out of every 100 mobile phones on Kenyan networks are smartphones. In the meantime, the percentage of people using feature phones has decreased to 56.5%.
The difference in price between a basic smartphone and a basic feature phone is now so small that the smartphone frequently offers better value.
But the change isn't taking place in a vacuum. Services that only function (or function much better) on smartphones are driving it ahead.
Nearly every adult mobile user in Kenya has a mobile money account, with a penetration rate of 98%.
The app-based experience, which includes access to loans, savings products, and merchant payments through QR codes, requires a smartphone, however M-Pesa's basic USSD service is compatible with feature phones.
The research indicates that SMS is being actively replaced by internet-based communications.
The most obvious picture is provided by mobile data subscriptions by network generation. Kenya had 12,709,372 2G mobile data subscriptions as of December 2024. That dropped to 10,444,616 by December 2025.
In the same time frame, 4G subscriptions increased by about 9.4 million, from 34,782,128 to 44,158,342. With 1,735,042 memberships, 5G is still a modest market, but in only one year, it surged by 71.6%.
3G has a narrative of its own. Subscriptions fell from 5,686,498 to 5,656,599 between September and December 2025, indicating that it peaked somewhere between these measurement points and is now reducing as well.
