📱 In Egypt’s smartphone market, local has become the new normal. Walk into any major smartphone retailer in Cairo or beyond, and you’ll find that the majority of options are no longer imported. Instead, the shelves are stacked with made-in-Egypt smartphones produced by global players like Samsung, Oppo, and Vivo, which have pivoted to local manufacturing in the last five years.

The shift

Government policy is accelerating the shift: Many of these locally produced phones boast a 40-45% local component ratio. The government’s policy to enforce 38.5% registration tax and customs fees on any imported phones coming online has made imported phones — whether smuggled or officially brought into the country — less competitive on pricing, effectively boosting locally made options.

This shift in market structure is why we decided to put the Vivo V60 to the test. With an EGP 26-28k price tag (depending on memory space), the phone comfortably sits in the upper range of the mid-tier market segment — at par with the imported Honor 500, the locally made Samsung A56, and the Oppo Reno 14 and 15.

The camera system

The Zeiss camera system is the star of the phone — and its advantage against mid-tier counterparts. With a 50MP main lens and a dedicated 50MP telephoto lens offering 3x optical zoom, the rear camera provides stunning portrait shots and solves the zoom quality issue that grips most of the mid-tiers.

… But it comes with a trade-off: To fit that telephoto sensor, the phone’s ultra-wide lens is capped at 8MP, similar to the Reno options and trailing the 12MP offered by the Honor 500 and Samsung A56. If you’re a fan of cityscapes like us, this may be the biggest drawback for what is otherwise a stellar camera system.

Look and feel

The lightest among its counterparts, save for Oppo’s Renos: At a little under 200g, the V60 is light despite the massive 6.5k mAh battery it houses — for context, many competitors in this tier tend to be on the heavier side once battery capacity exceeds 5000 mAh.

If you’re a heavy-duty user who cares about battery life and weight, the V60 would be a good choice.

Aesthetics took a bit of a hit though: The battery-weight balance was achieved by opting for a composite plastic frame instead of aluminum — a choice that often draws skepticism for its less premium feel if you are used to the cold, rigid grip of aluminum. Still, the phone, especially its mist gray variant, does a pretty good job of mimicking the look of brushed metal.

Display and horsepower

If you’re outdoorsy, the V60’s 6.77-inch AMOLED screen remains perfectly legible in the harsh midday Cairo sun, and its peak brightness stays crisp. If you spend your day on the road or in outdoor meetings, this phone would make your life much easier — but definitely keep your eyes on the battery life if you plan on keeping it at peak brightness often.

What about the processor? The V60 is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, a modern, upper-mid-range chip that delivers a noticeable snap to daily tasks — browsing, multitasking, and professional apps all feel effortless. However, this powerful processor is slightly dragged down by its universal flash storage, so if you’re a heavy gamer, you might want to skip the V60.

Our verdict: So, is it a buy or a skip? It all depends on your priorities as a user. The V60 is your best option in the mid-tier segment for those who spend a lot of time outdoors during the day, heavy users who want a lightweight option with a reliable battery, and fans of stellar portrait shots.

The future of the local smartphone in Om El Donia

So, what’s next? We’ll likely see competition in the Egyptian smartphone market shift from the battle for the low-to-mid-tier segments toward the high-end category. Local manufacturers who successfully pivot to premium devices stand to “[earn] big in the next two years,” Hisham El Hennawy, chief merchandising officer at BTech, tells EnterpriseAM. That said, hardcore brand loyalists are unlikely to jump ship — with El Hennawy predicting only a modest 5% market shift at best — given that the widespread availability of installment plans provides a safety net for consumer retention, even as price points rise.

Success in this maturing market is no longer a simple matter of scale or aggressive pricing. El Hennawy argues that the bread and butter of the industry now rests on the trifecta of marketing, branding, and sophisticated distribution networks. “Anybody who comes believing that mass production and better pricing will shift the market, that won’t happen,” he says, highlighting that in a country as large as Egypt, supply chain reliability is the ultimate differentiator.

While Oppo and Vivo currently lead the pack in terms of performance, Vivo may need to pick up the slack on marketing and distribution, as it currently trails Samsung, Oppo, and Honor in sales in the mid-tier segment (EGP 15k-33k phones), according to data El Hennawy shared with us. All said, the real victors will be those who can marry local production advantages with a premium brand identity that resonates with an increasingly discerning consumer base.

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