---
title: "This Is the First-Ever Smartphone Made Completely in Africa"
description: "Rwandan tech company Mara Group just released the first entirely-African-made smartphones, marking the country's progress as a tech hub."
date: "2019-10-11"
modified: "2019-10-11"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/rwandan-first-african-smartphone"
categories:
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "africa"
  - "smartphones"
  - "the digest"
---

# This Is the First-Ever Smartphone Made Completely in Africa

![Rwandan tech company Mara Group just released the first entirely-African-made smartphones, marking the country's progress as a tech hub.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/rwandan-company-first-african-made-smartphone.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Mara Group\</em\>*

## Shop Local

A Rwandan company called Mara Group just released two new smartphones — the Mara X and the pricier Mara Z — which are the first ever to be manufactured entirely in Africa.

The two Android phones are [more expensive](<https://maraphones.com/product/mara-x/>) than others available in the area, [according to *Fast Company*](<https://www.fastcompany.com/90414915/rwandas-mara-x-z-are-1st-smartphones-made-fully-in-africa>), but Mara Group is banking on people willing to dish out a little extra for the opportunity to support local economies instead of buying imported hardware. All said, the phones are an important step toward Rwanda's goal of becoming a new hub for the tech industry.

## In-House

Rwanda President Paul Kagame described Mara Groups' new facility as Africa's "first high tech smartphone factory" during an inaugural ceremony on Monday, *[CNN ](<https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/africa/rwanda-smartphone-factory/index.html>)*[reports](<https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/africa/rwanda-smartphone-factory/index.html>).

"The Mara Phone joins a growing list of high-quality products that are made in our country," he said.

Mara Group isn't the first to assemble phones in Africa — *Fast Company* reports that Egypt, Algeria, and South Africa all have phone factories. However, all of them buy parts from China and other non-African countries.

**READ MORE:** [Rwanda just released the first smartphone made entirely in Africa](<https://www.fastcompany.com/90414915/rwandas-mara-x-z-are-1st-smartphones-made-fully-in-africa>) \[*Fast Company*\]

**More on smartphones:** *[Despite Fix, Samsung Folding Phone Still Breaks Almost Immediately](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/samsung-galaxy-fold-phone-still-breaks>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)