Lagos, Nigeria – Kola Alawada shelters from the rain beneath the shade of a cellphone equipment kiosk in Pc Village in Lagos, his outdated Android cellphone with a cracked display screen clutched in his hand.
The sprawling, chaotic market in southwestern Nigeria is Africa’s largest expertise hub, the place streets lined with purchasing plazas and casual stalls promote and restore a plethora of gadgets throughout a variety of value factors.
Alawada waits eagerly whereas James, a cellphone reseller whose actual identify we’re not utilizing to guard his privateness, haggles with one other buyer on a WhatsApp name. The 21-year-old scholar is able to swap from his outdated machine to an iPhone.
“At college, after I wish to [woo] a woman, I borrow my good friend’s iPhone 14 Professional Max. If she sees me with an Android, she’ll suppose I’m broke,” Alawada laughs, although the strain weighs on him. Quickly, he hopes he won’t must borrow any extra.
For a lot of younger Nigerians, the iPhone is greater than a cellphone – it’s a standing image. But, a brand new one nonetheless prices greater than most working-class Nigerians can afford. The value of the newly launched iPhone 16 is greater than 3 million naira – that’s greater than $1,800 in a rustic the place the minimal month-to-month wage is $44.
Whereas entry-level Androids promote for as little as 25,500 naira ($15), even older mannequin, second-hand iPhones are pricier – a used iPhone 8 Plus, as an illustration, can value about 150,000 naira ($88), regardless of its outdated iOS.
So, many like Alawada discover different technique of securing an iPhone.
At Pc Village, he’s on a mission to promote his outdated Android, add the cash to his pot of financial savings and use it to purchase an iPhone.
As James continues his backwards and forwards with the opposite buyer over WhatsApp, Alawada waits, questioning if his father had purchased his Android right here. He remembers the joys of unboxing the Tecno Phantom X in 2021 in the beginning of college – a household funding of greater than 200,000 naira ($118).
Now, years later, that reminiscence feels distant as he waits to promote the identical cellphone within the hopes of affording a second-hand iPhone 12 Professional for 600,000 naira ($353) – an quantity far exceeding his father’s wage and eight instances Nigeria’s minimal wage.
Lastly off the cellphone, the 35-year-old reseller inspects Alawada’s Android and shakes his head. “Nobody will purchase this for a great value,” James says bluntly. “Androids don’t maintain second-hand worth.” He arms the cellphone again, and Alawada’s face briefly falls.
The scholar feels his plan slipping away within the rain-soaked chaos, however the disappointment doesn’t sway him.
Flawless fixer
The worldwide iPhone vs Android battle has raged for 17 years, with Android commanding about 70 % of the market and iPhone holding 28 %. That market divide holds in Nigeria too, however for a lot of millennial and Gen Z customers, telephones are about extra than simply performance.
Younger Nigerians say the iPhone’s exclusivity and working system give it a novel status. Apps in style with Gen Z, like Snapchat and Instagram, carry out higher on iPhones, because of the seamless integration with its digicam, they are saying. The airdrop characteristic additionally makes it simple to share recordsdata inside their community.
Nonetheless decided to get his arms on an iPhone, Alawada accompanies James by means of the labyrinth of Pc Village. Frenzied and fast-paced, the tech market snakes by means of seven streets – a cacophony of low-rise buildings, repurposed bungalows and iron-clad kiosks by means of alleys.
Its streets teem with umbrellas and clusters of merchants. Idle vehicles function backdrops for style stalls, whereas meals distributors weave by means of, feeding the bustling crowd.
Damp from the rain, James and Alawada lastly attain a busy store belonging to Solomon Dosumu.
Dosumu specialises in cellphone repairs, and has a transparent choice for iPhones, which outsell Androids in his retailer. James says Dosumu’s repairs are so meticulous, they appear flawless to the bare eye.
Within the retailer, prospects sit in a ready space; one telling James that Dosumu has stepped out to select up substitute screens for an iPhone 11 Professional and a 14 Professional Max. Alawada waits impatiently, whereas exterior the store, a poster advertises iPhone 16 preorders for the largely unreachable 3 million naira price ticket.
This yr’s iPhone is the priciest within the flagship lineup, particularly in African nations like Nigeria, which impose excessive import tariffs to encourage native producers and lift income. When contacted by Al Jazeera to touch upon the additional value burden for iPhones that buyers in African nations typically must bear, Apple didn’t reply to our emails.
Thriving casual market
The demand for outdated, repaired iPhones has fuelled an off-the-cuff market the place repairmen like Dosumu breathe new life into used telephones, recycling them for resale.
In locations like Pc Village, retailers like Dosumu’s bridge the hole between luxurious and affordability.
Android telephones depreciate shortly in worth because of the excessive value of changing their AMOLED screens, which might match the worth of a second-hand machine. In the meantime, iPhones, whereas expensive to restore, typically use extra inexpensive LCD or broadly out there OLED screens imported from China.
Many of those telephones arrive from China in bulk, often with minor defects – no Face ID, cracked again glass – and are shipped to repairmen like Dosumu in Nigeria. As soon as fastened, they’re resold.
Some are brand-new gadgets swapped by folks desperate to improve, whereas in uncommon instances, stolen telephones are resold after victims are compelled to sign off of their iCloud accounts throughout a theft.
Easy to complicated repairs
Lastly, Dosumu returns to the store, flanked by two males carrying iPhone elements. One, a screwdriver between his tooth, briefly blocks Alawada’s view of the LED-strewn stands. There sits the Sierra Blue 12 Professional he has been eyeing, and Alawada’s anticipation heightens.
As an “engineer’s engineer”, Dosumu, 37, is accustomed to aiding fellow technicians. He started his journey years in the past as an apprentice, fixing smartphones after leaving his petrol station job searching for one thing extra steady – across the time the primary iPhone was launched.
“I’ve at all times cherished expertise – telephones, devices, all that. That zeal made cellphone repairs a simple selection,” Dosumu says whereas engaged on the iPhone 11 Professional. “I got here to Pc Village, met somebody who fastened my cellphone, informed him I wished to study, paid him for six months and enrolled. I ended up spending a yr there.”
When Dosumu started his profession in 2009, the iPhone 3GS was largely ignored in Nigeria, with even much less curiosity within the iPhone 4 the next yr. Blackberry dominated the market.
Now, Dosumu fees aspiring iPhone engineers 150,000 naira ($90) for six months of coaching, a lot of which he admits to studying from YouTube.
Dosumu’s journey to mastery has been crammed with challenges, with dismantled telephones as proof of his struggles. “Screens are the simplest,” he says. “However extra complicated repairs – just like the iPhone’s True-Depth Face ID or battery replacements – have value me time, cash and loads of batteries. It’s not so simple as swapping out AA batteries,” he provides with a wry smile.
“Once you exchange elements, the cellphone shows Apple’s “unknown elements” message, and a few options, like battery well being, cease working,” Dosumu explains. “To repair that, I needed to spend money on specialised instruments.” Amongst these are gadgets just like the JCID Romeo Face ID Chip and the JCID Q1 iPhone Battery Well being Restore Board, important instruments for bypassing Apple’s limitations and restoring full performance.
It has been price it. Due to the demand for used and repaired iPhones, Dosumu can help himself, present for his household and sustain together with his hire.
He picks up two small motherboards, every barely an inch broad, marked with mannequin numbers starting from the iPhone 6 to the 15 Professional Max. “These”, he explains, “are essential for resetting batteries, recalibrating cameras and clearing error messages” – indispensable instruments for navigating Apple’s strict restore protocols.
Dosumu then reaches for a black case, revealing its contents that he says value him greater than 300,000 naira ($180). Inside is metal {hardware} cradled in protecting foam. “If you wish to go far on this enterprise, you must make investments. This one is for fixing Face ID. I simply received it from China.”
Making a deal
Though Dosumu works on all varieties of telephones, he says he cherishes his shoppers’ confidentiality and solely offers in {hardware}. “I don’t hack,” Dosumu insists, explaining that iCloud-locked telephones are almost inconceivable to unlock and often find yourself being bought for elements.
However for him, the {hardware} holds worth. When somebody brings a locked cellphone to him – whether or not disabled by repeated password makes an attempt or marked as stolen – he refrains from probing the origin of those gadgets, seeing them as a substitute as sources for future repairs.
“I’ve loads in my store. Generally, I exploit them to coach apprentices,” he explains, securing the ultimate screws on an 11 Professional. After sealing the again, he powers it on confidently, then advises the proprietor, “Don’t take away the nylon for a few days.” The nylon not solely protects the display screen however serves as a guaranty marker. “Take it off, and the guarantee’s void.”
Lastly, turning his consideration to Alawada and James, Dosumu confirms the coed’s preliminary fears: with the naira’s decline towards the greenback, rising customs charges and the discharge of the newest iPhone, the 600,000 naira ($361) he had saved won’t be sufficient for the iPhone 12. However Dosumu takes pity on him.
“Your Android cellphone, what’s fallacious with it? Simply the display screen?” Dosumu asks Alawada, inspecting the injury. He sends an apprentice to examine for a substitute display screen as Alawada arms over the cellphone after eradicating his SIM card and waits anxiously.
The apprentice sends a message to inform Dosumu {that a} substitute display screen for the Android is offered. “I’ll use your cellphone and the restore to make up for the iPhone [cost]. I’ve seen you eyeing the blue cellphone because you got here in,” Dosumu tells Alawada, pulling out his keys and opening the glass showcase.
As he arms the iPhone to Alawada, the younger man’s eyes gentle up underneath the fluorescent lights. He inspects all the things – the digicam, battery, display screen – and finds nothing amiss, with out realizing the true extent of fixes which have been completed on the machine.
Alawada and Dosumu conclude the deal. The younger man has lastly joined the choose ranks of iPhone customers in Africa.
‘I’ll personal an iPhone’
With uncertainty behind him, Alawada leaves Dosumu’s store together with his pre-used iPhone – plus a charger Dosumu threw in totally free – comfortable in his pocket. He retraces his steps again to the equipment kiosk, hoping to purchase a transparent cellphone case he had seen earlier, with out paying a lot consideration to the bustling market and the folks bumping into him as he walks.
Quickly, Alawada finds himself misplaced available in the market maze. He had forgotten to ask James for instructions and doesn’t wish to trouble him now. However as Alawada reaches for his cellphone, he realises it’s gone. His arms shake as he pats his pockets, and scans the bottom and crowd, hoping to see a responsible face. Then, the panic hits.
Alawada’s sobs break by means of the bustle as he collapses to the bottom. A number of passersby look his approach, however most ignore him – realizing what doubtless occurred. The darkish prison facet of Pc Village, as soon as a hearsay to him, has turn into his actuality.
“Why are you disturbing our station?” Mr Bello, a policeman asks, towering over Alawada. In his hysteria, the coed had not realised he was in entrance of the police station. “You’ve scammed oyinbo [foreigners], used their cash to purchase an iPhone, and now you’re crying since you’ve been scammed?” the officer accuses.
Alawada, trembling, holds up his ID. “Sir, I’m not a yahoo boy. I’m a scholar,” he says utilizing the native slang time period for scammers.
“A scholar?” Mr Bello scoffs. “The place did you get the cash to purchase an iPhone?”
Cornered, Alawada is unable to elucidate how he had scraped collectively the cash and Mr Bello doesn’t appear to care. To him, a younger man with an iPhone means one factor: fraud.
Bello tells Alawada to go contained in the station to write down a press release, however Alawada and the others sitting there – all victims of the same destiny – know it’s pointless. The cellphone is gone and the assertion is a misplaced trigger.
As Alawada sits on the station, the relentless hum of Pc Village – with its maze of tech hustlers and keen patrons – roars on; fortunes being made and misplaced with each transaction.
On this sprawling, unforgiving market, the place even the best-laid plans can crumble, it’s clear: The home typically wins.
Now dejected and reeling from the loss, Alawada is extra cautious than earlier than. However he nonetheless holds onto his iPhone desires.
“I’ll personal an iPhone however I gained’t be so desperate to get one at any value,” he says.
“It could take some time and a number of sacrifices, however I’ll get one – and by God’s grace, will probably be a model new one.”
