As part of the 2026 Finance Act, import duties on smartphones have been reduced from 17.5% to 2.5%. The import rates had been set at 17.5% at the end of 2023, under the 2024 Finance Act. A decision that had been criticized by industry experts, who pointed to the obvious risk that consumers would turn to the black market.
Curbing the informal market
This year, these rates were lowered for one main reason: to curb the informal sector, which accounts for 80% of the overall telecommunications market in Morocco, Omar Oudghiri, Director of Development and Expansion at Electroplanet, tells TelQuel. « Telephony is what weighs most heavily in the informal sector, along with electronic and household appliances. With fraudulent imports, you can put 10 or 15 phones in the trunk of a car or in a suitcase, and it gets through customs« , he explains.
The recent decision to cut import duties by 15% should therefore curb the black market’s grip on the phone retail sector. That said, it will not be easy to predict how informal players will continue their activities. « Because the informal market adapts. We can’t know how it will react. Either they start declaring their operations and lose out because of traceability, or they stick to their usual practices, with illicit imports« , Oudghiri adds.
Electroplanet’s Director of Development and Expansion also justifies this reduction in import duties by the need to democratize access to smartphones, particularly to enable access to digital payments. « We want to popularize the use of phones. By lowering prices, a broader public will inevitably be able to access them« , he says.
Not to mention the rollout of 5G, which is encouraging users to replace their older phones with new smartphones, adds Aziz El Guezbari, CEO of Nethub, the company behind the Mediazone brand.
A real drop in prices?
By dropping from 17.5% to 2.5%, phone prices will go down, confirms Omar Oudghiri, adding that distributors will lower the average prices of smartphones on the market. That said, prices will not mechanically fall by 15% for consumers. “Distributors will lower retail prices somewhat, but they won’t cut their margins by 15%,” he anticipates.
This is because smartphones are relatively expensive today, notably due to the cost of raw materials. “Prices haven’t gone down in five or six years. And they will only continue to rise with the use of rare metals,” he notes. These components are essential to many industries, including electronics, and are now at the heart of debates among major world powers, particularly China, which accounts for 70% of global rare earth production.
For his part, Aziz El Guezbari already sees a difference on store shelves for consumers. Samsung phones resold by Mediazone saw an initial price drop in mid-December, he says, adding that on the Apple side, the iPhone 17 Pro Max fell from 19,999 dirhams to 16,999 dirhams this Monday, January 12. For other high-end smartphones from these two flagship brands, the gap compared with previous prices is around 800 to 1,000 dirhams, while for entry-level products it stands between 400 and 500 dirhams, El Guezbari explains.
“With the reduction in import duties on smartphones, the cost of entry-level phones, particularly Chinese models, will drop significantly”
According to Omar Oudghiri, on a broader scale, it is mainly entry-level smartphones that will benefit from this reduction, with increased imports of these products. “The cost of entry-level phones, particularly Chinese ones, will drop significantly,” he says, noting that smartphones from China account for 80% of imports in the sector.
As for pricing, he says it is still necessary to wait for suppliers’ price lists before sharing exact figures. “In a month or two, we’ll have a clearer idea of the exact prices,” he notes. For major brands such as iPhone, Huawei, or Samsung, Oudghiri does not expect a significant price drop. “It may be around 5 or 6%, because these products sell easily, and retailers may keep the margin,” he comments.
Accessories in the spotlight
Lower prices will lead to better revenue for retailers, who are expecting an increase in sales of phone accessories. With cheaper phones, customers can afford to buy more accessories. “What we’re looking for isn’t margin on the phone, but on accessories,” explains Aziz El Guezbari, adding that accessories such as phone cases are not affected by this reduction in customs duties.
For the head of Mediazone, this new 2.5% rate also makes it possible to consider expanding the product range, importing larger inventories, and rolling out more products.
Written in French by Salomé Krumenacher, edited in English by Eric Nielson
