Network operator Safaricom and smartphone brand vivo have entered into a partnership that will vivo smartphones available for purchase through the operator’s expansive physical retail store network as well as its online e-commerce platform, Masoko.
For a start it is the vivo Y15s, vivo Y21 and vivo Y33s that will be available for purchase through Safaricom. vivo is promising more products as it expands its portfolio. The trio are going for Kshs 14,000, Kshs 18,000 and Kshs 24,000, respectively.
The Y33s is the latest device in the lineup, having gone on sale just last year at the same price. The Y21 had just launched a month before it while the Y15s is a holdover from the brand’s entry into the local market.
“The launch of the vivo smartphones in Safaricom is set to increase smartphone penetration, fast-tracking Safaricom’s vision to drive digital inclusion in the country,” vivo says in a statement.
vivo, which came sixth in terms of smartphone shipments last year, accounting for 3% of all smartphones shipped in 2021, entered the highly competitive Kenyan smartphone market in 2019. Its latest offering in the market is the V23 smartphone series.
