That puts Xiaomi in third place. That might not be unexpected from a South African perspective, which tends to rank Samsung and Apple ahead of the Chinese contender but Apple, as a company, isn’t represented on the podium in Africa as a whole.

African tastes

When all of Africa’s countries are considered, Apple doesn’t rank in the top five for sales. First up is Transsion, a company that includes budget brands Tecno and iTel. These are present in South Africa but don’t enjoy the popularity they do elsewhere on the African continent. Samsung holds a declining but still substantial percentage of Africa’s smartphone popularity while Xiaomi is slowly eating away at its competitors, increasing its share to 13% thanks to sales in Nigeria and Egypt.

South Africans, on the other hand, are slipping somewhat in terms of sales. Thanks to economic uncertainty, smartphone sales have declined in the country by 10% since August 2024. This has mostly driven Samsung’s 30% decline in the region, but other brands like Honor have seen growth in SA thanks to various initiatives. Canalys lists the brand’s ‘Yes Program’ and Code with Honor’ as contributing factors to a staggering 287% growth in sales.

South Africa isn’t likely to stay muted for too long. The brief dip came on the back of six consecutive quarters of growth in the double digits and smartphone makers will likely see local purchases take an upswing shortly. Which smartphone makers get that lovely South African cash though… that’s a question that remains to be answered but Samsung should get at least a little back. Right?

Source

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The best part? You don’t necessarily have to have any coding experience, with the only requirements being that you’re from an African country (check) and are over 18 years of age (hopefully check). You’ll also need a decent internet connection, because the courses are all done on the web.

Upon completion of the courses, you’ll have the option to write the Google certification exams. The sponsorship does not, however, include the fees needed to complete these exams, but you’ll have the foundation to be able to complete them. This’ll allow you to take the Associate Cloud Engineer (ACE), Mobile Web Specialist (MWS), or Associate Android Developer (AAD) exams. Certified by the one and only Google.

Some students may qualify for grants to take those exams (which normally cost in the region of R2,000) for mahala. There is also the possibility of joining Andela as a software engineer if you wish. And they hire you, we guess. 

Applications for the three courses are open now and will close on 15 May. You’ll need to do an assessment test via Google training partner Pluralsight, but apparently criteria for selection is based on ‘first come, first serve, most content viewed and highest Skill IQ’. The Skill IQ is generated when you take the assessment test, so bring your A-game. So make sure to click this link, quick.

The post Are you African and over 18? Google is offering free coding courses appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

Mama K’s Team 4

The story is created by Zambian writer Malenga Mulendema, who won an award at the Triggerfish Story Lab, a pan-African talent search backed by the Cape Town-based animation studio and The Walt Disney Co. It’s also designed by the Cameroonian artist Malcolm Wope, who mainly drew visual inspiration from retro-’90s R&B and hip-hop girl groups.

Mulendema noticed something out of place growing up watching superheroes on TV. None of them looked like her, which is why she decided to create heroes that look more like her in a world that resembled her own.

“In creating a superhero show set in Lusaka, I hope to introduce the world to four strong African girls who save the day in their own fun and crazy way,” says Mulendema. “Most importantly, I want to illustrate that anyone from anywhere can be a superhero.”

Netflix, along with Triggerfish and British production company Cake, is now searching for additional African female writing talent to join the creative team on the series. If you’re interested, check out the careers page on Triggerfish.com.

The post African-superhero cartoon, Mama K’s Team 4, coming to Netflix appeared first on Stuff South Africa.