Common smartphone problems and how to fix them
Effective smartphone repair always begins with identifying the actual cause of the issue, not jumping to conclusions or trying random fixes in the hope that one will work. A proper diagnostic procedure helps distinguish between: Software problems (glitches, corrupted files, malicious apps, etc.). Hardware problems (damaged screen, bad microphone/receiver, bad battery, etc.). How to tell if a smartphone issue is hardware or software-related The stability of smartphones relies on two major layers: the hardware and the software. The hardware consists of the smartphone’s physical components—basically everything you can see and touch, such as the screen, battery, microphone, speaker, and charging port. On the other hand, the software is the operating system; it controls everything your phone does, and all applications run on it. Common examples of operating systems are Android and iOS. Top hardware issues that affect smartphones Damaged screens Unresponsive charging port Speakers and microphones becoming silent Frequent smartphone software issues Frequent app crashes System lag Overheating not tied to weather or heavy use How to diagnose software problems and identify the root cause Analysis of repair trends indicates that many smartphone problems stem from identifiable, preventable patterns that can be detected through basic user diagnostics. Therefore, the diagnostic process is structured into three stages to isolate the problem. Software layer triage: The initial assessment starts with basic fixes such as rebooting, clearing RAM, updating apps, and clearing the cache. Isolation layer triage: If the problem persists, the smartphone should be placed in a clean environment, known as Safe Mode, to determine whether the issue lies within the device’s operating system or a third-party app. Hardware-layer triage: The final diagnostic step after software and third-party app conflicts have been ruled out. Hardware diagnostic tools are often hidden codes provided by the manufacturer to verify component functionality and indicate whether professional repair is necessary. Essential smartphone troubleshooting: restart, system updates, and cache clearing Many complex or confusing symptoms that suggest deep corruption are, in reality, simple memory conflicts or temporary system glitches. Addressing these foundational issues is the first step in any troubleshooting process. Restarting and system updates: The device can be restarted by turning it off and back on, or by long-pressing the power button (on iPhone X and above, long-press the Volume Up and Power buttons simultaneously) to select the restart option. Restarting the device is the fundamental fix for solving software-related issues. The action effectively refreshes the RAM, ensures that recently downloaded system patches or configurations are properly installed, and resets all temporary changes to their defaults. Also, failure to install pending updates—whether for the operating system or individual applications is a frequent source of bugs, instability, reduced battery performance, screen freezes, and modem/firmware conflicts. Consequently, confirming and applying the latest system and application updates is an integral part of the foundational fix. Cache management: System and application caches are temporary storage areas designed to improve speed and user experience. But when caches become full or corrupted, they produce the opposite effect, contributing to sluggishness, application crashes, and overall lag in performance. Clearing the cache provides an effective fix for many stability issues—especially device lagging. It is essential to differentiate between clearing an app’s cache and clearing its data. Clearing the cache removes temporary files without affecting user data on the app. Conversely, clearing an app’s data deletes user login details and all other user files within the app, effectively resetting the app to its initial state (e.g., clearing the data in a game will delete your progress). For persistent failure or suspected corruption within the app data, clearing the data or deleting the app entirely might be necessary. To clear an app cache using a Samsung Galaxy device and many other Android smartphones: Navigate to Settings > Apps > [Specific App] > Storage > Clear Cache. Note: iOS devices do not allow users to clear caches manually. Safe mode: If the device continues to exhibit consistent crashes, persistent lag, or behaviour that was not solved by restarting and clearing the cache, there is a likelihood of a conflict with a third-party app. To isolate the conflict, the device must be put into Safe Mode. The procedure for entering Safe Mode varies slightly by device, but generally involves pressing and holding the Power button until the power option appears, and then long-pressing the Power Off icon on the screen until a prompt to reboot into Safe Mode appears. The diagnostic value of Safe Mode is immediate: if the phone performs normally without crashes or slowdowns, the fault is localised to a recently installed or corrupted third-party app. This isolation process is essential because it allows the user to specifically identify and uninstall problematic applications without resorting to a complete data wipe. Fixing smartphone lag, freezing, and frequent crashes Performance degradation, such as excessive lagging, application/device crashes, and instability, are frequently reported issues that compromise the effectiveness of smartphones. Performance degradation: Causes and mitigation The primary cause of excessive sluggishness and application crashes is often resource exhaustion, driven by two factors: Limited storage. Excessive background processing. Full internal storage is a critical barrier to effective performance. Smartphones require a certain amount of free space to function optimally. Consequently, deleting unnecessary files, media, and unused applications is an essential remedy for device lag. Regularly deleting and offloading unused applications jettisons “dead weight” that may otherwise consume memory and affect processing cycles via background processes. Furthermore, system optimisation can yield noticeable speed improvements, especially on older hardware. Reducing or disabling non-essential graphical features, such as animated wallpapers and transition effects, frees up processing power for essential tasks. Handling unresponsive screens and system freezes In situations where users experience a complete system freeze and the operating system is entirely unresponsive to touch input, the device requires a hardware-level override known as a Force Restart. The specific button combinations required depend on the manufacturer and model. iOS (iPhone 8/X and upwards): The user must execute a precise three-step sequence: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release
Read MoreThe tech stories we envied most in 2025
If there is one undeniable truth about journalism, it’s that no publication does it all. We pride ourselves on covering Africa’s technology ecosystem with unmatched rigour. Still, every so often, we come across incredible work that leaves us with only one thought: “Damn, I wish we had made that.” Instead of letting that envy stew in our Slack channel, we’re borrowing a leaf from the originators of what to do with such envy. Welcome to the inaugural TechCabal Jealousy List. This is a curated confession of the work we didn’t produce this year but wish we did: A collection of the articles, visual investigations, and documentaries from across the global media landscape that stopped us in our tracks. We asked our reporters, writers, and editors to share one story they read/watched/listened to this year that they wish they’d written/produced/been a part of making. Here’s what they said: The African president’s daughter raised in North Korea by Kim Il Sung | The Africa Report This article is on my jealousy list because it could have easily been a high-impact story for Digital Nomads, the weekend column I write for TechCabal. I’ve been looking to explore how diaspora folks live in the Asian parts of the world; I’m curious about North Korea in particular—its well-earned reputation for isolationism, and how foreigners adjust there. It would have been useful if the story touched a bit on what life for Monica—beyond growing up—was like there, at least to the extent it could. But I like the pacing, the narrative setting, and the overall elegance. I’ve borrowed the journalist, Sheriff Bojang Jr’s style in some of my work since then. Yet, more could have been done with such an interesting, unique subject. TechCabal Attribution Card Emmanuel Nwosu Junior Reporter Inside the collapse of Builder.ai: Was it even an AI company? | Rest of World This article tells the story of a supposed AI startup that sold the dream of AI-assembled apps when it was mostly just run on human labour and outsourcers despite raising $445m from Microsoft and other investors. I wish I had written it because the article is well-detailed and tells the full story of the company’s collapse. Even though it’s not breaking news, it does a good job of tying old and new information together in an engaging way because it is well-sourced. TechCabal Attribution Card – Muktar Muktar Oladunmade Associate Reporter Why 2025 is the single most pivotal year in our lifetime | The Big Think The first thing that grabbed my attention was the aspect ratio. They went with something close to 2.39:1 instead of the usual 16:9 you’d expect on YouTube. And honestly, that alone said a lot about how intentional the production was. The video introduces the concept of tipping points in technological evolution, major shifts that tend to appear in 80-year intervals and go on to shape the world for about 25 years. But what’s wild is that 2025 doesn’t have one tipping point, but three. All happening at once. Now, here’s where the aspect ratio becomes genius. It can be cleanly divided into three equal squares. Visually, it’s freakishly satisfying, but more importantly, it lets them show the three tipping points side-by-side and carry that theme all through the story. It’s such a subtle but powerful creative choice. The storyteller and creative director in me had a great time watching this. And honestly? I’d love to tell stories with this level of intentionality and creativity, too. TechCabal Attribution Card – Ayodeji Ayodeji Aboderin Video Content Creator Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date | The New York Times Say what you will about people who take horoscopes and zodiac signs seriously (a sentiment rightly captured in the first paragraph of the article), I found it interesting that this article takes what is an inexact science and tries to make it less so. But that’s not why it’s on my jealousy list. It is on my list because of its format. What a time it’d be when and if we’re able to unlock this kind of design thinking and execution in our reporting here at TechCabal! My writing career often extends into the literary world, and there, we talk sometimes about form mirroring content; how the way an essay or story or poem is presented can communicate as much or more than its words, and I appreciate it deeply when newsrooms employ this kind of thinking. It takes news and journalism from something stuffy and straitjacketed to something interactive, deeply engaging, and memorable. TechCabal Attribution Card – Kosisochukwu Kosisochukwu Ugwuede Standards & Features Editor DOGE-Pilled | Bloomberg There is a running joke in the newsroom that I am obsessed with Bloomberg, so it’s no surprise that a Bloomberg article was my favourite this year. This piece on Luke Farritor, a 24-year-old coder who worked for the now-troubled, Elon Musk-controlled Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was a riveting profile of how a wunderkind with no government experience suddenly found himself wielding enormous influence over which agencies were gutted and which survived. It was a reminder that power—who holds it and how it’s used—is just as important to follow as technology itself. TechCabal Attribution Card – Ganiu Ganiu Oloruntade Senior Editor He’s Been Charged With Dozens of Crimes. Nobody Knows His Name | New York Times This is the story of a man who everyone thought committed a crime, only for the actual criminal to call and say the accused man stole his name. It’s a wild story, but if you are like me, who loves wild, long, meandering, and complicated storytelling, this will make your day. TechCabal Attribution Card – Frank Frank Eleanya Senior Reporter My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them | Wired Maybe it’s because I’m fascinated by how AI works and incredibly nosy about how other people use AI (don’t quote me), but this story from Wired really caught my attention in a “Why didn’t I
Read MoreNomba adds Apple Pay as Nigerian businesses seek easier global payments
Nigerian merchants can now accept Apple Pay payments through Nomba, as the fintech expands its payments stack to support Apple’s contactless payment service across in-store and online checkouts. The integration allows merchants on Nomba’s platform to receive payments from Apple Pay users without requiring physical cards or initiating bank transfers to access instant payments from their global customers, including diaspora Nigerians. “Payments globally are moving toward speed, security, and invisible checkout,” said Pelumi Aboluwarin, Nomba’s CTO. “Our responsibility is to ensure Nigerian merchants are not left behind, but are fully prepared for the future of payments.” Nomba is the latest Nigerian fintech to support Apple Pay, following Stripe-owned Paystack’s integration in 2021 and a similar launch by cross-border payments fintech Platnova in July 2025. While Apple Pay is widely used in markets such as North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, its adoption in Nigeria has been limited by regulatory constraints and infrastructure challenges. Unlike a full consumer rollout that would require Nigerian banks to issue Apple Pay-enabled cards, Nomba’s integration focuses on merchant acceptance. Customers globally can pay Nigerian businesses using Apple Pay on their iPhones, authenticated with Face ID linked to their stored card details. For Nigerian merchants using Nomba, the feature works across physical point-of-sale (POS) terminals and online checkouts. The integration was enabled through strategic global partnerships and regulatory alignment with licenced foreign entities already approved within Apple’s payments ecosystem. While Nomba did not disclose its partners, Aboluwarin said the company worked with them to “carry out the deep technical and operational work required to extend Apple Pay capabilities into Nigeria in a compliant and scalable way.” Nomba said integrating Apple Pay in Nigeria required meeting some of the most stringent global security, compliance, and certification standards in payments. The company added that its Money Transmitter (MTL) and Money Services Business (MSB) licences in the United States enable it to partner with global payment processors operating under defined service-level agreements (SLAs). For Nigerian businesses, accepting international payments often means delayed settlements, withheld funds, and unfavourable foreign exchange rates due to transactions being routed through upstream processors outside the country. Nomba believes its Apple Pay integration will reduce these frictions by allowing faster checkout and improving settlement reliability. “Even when settlements from upstream processors are delayed, we ensure merchants are paid on time using our own funds,” the company said. According to Aboluwarin, the addition of Apple Pay is expected to improve customer experience and merchant revenue, particularly for businesses that serve tourists and returning diaspora Nigerians. In 2024, Nigerians living abroad spent ₦60 billion during their December homecoming visits, according to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM). Faster checkout, shorter queues, and fewer payment failures could make a meaningful difference for merchants during such high-traffic periods, Nomba added.
Read More11 common mistakes that get social media accounts hacked and how to fix them
Why do people keep getting hacked despite new security features? The answer is simple: human error. It’s rarely high-tech hacking; it’s usually a simple mistake. Here are the 11 most common ways users accidentally expose their accounts. Password habits that make hacking too easy Poor password management remains the most common failure in digital security. Weak or compromised passwords provide the entry point for most automated attacks and other hacking-related breaches globally. Mistakes that can get your social media hacked in this category are: Mistake 1: Using weak and predictable passwords Most people choose passwords they can remember— a fact well known to hackers, therefore, they use programs that run through your publicly available personal details and easy sequences such as: 12345 Your pet’s name Your birthday or your partner’s birthday Your favourite artist Etc Hackers and cyber criminals prioritise these password options in brute-force and dictionary attacks. Fix: Use long random passwords, a password manager would handle remembering them for you, or make use of a passphrase. Mistake 2: Reusing the same password everywhere The average individual is burdened with remembering multiple passwords for Instagram, X, Facebook, Bumble, etc. This often leads to the dangerous coping mechanism of reusing the same password across multiple accounts. This practice facilitates credential stuffing, an automated cybercrime technique in which attackers purchase extensive lists of stolen password/username combinations (often obtained from data breaches of small websites) on the dark web. They then use automated bot software to rapidly “stuff” these stolen pairs into login fields across other platforms. Fix: Use a single password for each account. Common password mistakes and corresponding security risks Multifactor authentication (MFA) neglect and fatigue MFA is designed as an essential second defence layer in case your password gets compromised. It’s a network of multiple verification methods, such as a password combined with a temporary code, a biometric scan, or an app notification, to confirm identity. Mistakes in this category include: Mistake 3: Not turning on two-factor authentication Two-factor authentication (2FA) significantly reduces the rate of successful account takeovers, providing protection even when a user’s password has been stolen. However, adoption remains inconsistent. Users often neglect 2FA due to perceived inconvenience, poor usability, and a general inclination to disregard security recommendations that complicate daily routines. Fix: Turn on 2FA everywhere you can and use an authenticator app, not just sms codes. Mistake 4: Falling for MFA fatigue (push bomb) Hackers have pivoted from attempting to crack the MFA to manipulating human users into bypassing it. To do this, they spam your phone with login approval notifications—the technique is psychological; the goal is to wear down the user’s patience and vigilance, leading them to authorise the login attempt in a moment of frustration or distraction. There are also advanced tricks like Token theft and adversary-in-the-middle (AITM): Hackers intercept your login sessions so they can stay logged in forever. Targeted social engineering: Hackers impersonate IT staff via communication channels like phone calls, directing users to click malicious links or specifically requesting them to approve push notifications. Ignore any phone calls or communications from any IT specialist asking you to click links, approve a push notification, or type/click a number shown on your screen. Call the relevant customer support for clarity. Also, if you didn’t try to log in, don’t approve anything. Social engineering: when the hackers hack you, and not your device Social media platforms are built on a strong foundation of trust between users, brands, and colleagues. Hackers leverage this foundation by crafting compelling, fabricated scenarios to exploit human vulnerabilities. Mistake 5: Believing phishing messages or fake alerts Phishing attacks on social media are often in the form of targeted impersonation. Hackers create fake accounts mimicking real people, executives, or established brands, often building trust by liking content or joining similar groups before sending a direct, malicious private message. Spear phishing: Hackers use publicly available personal information to craft personalised messages. These messages are designed to promote immediate response. Examples of such messages include: “Your account will be disabled.” “We detected unusual activity” “Click here to verify your account” Fix: Always verify a message through an official channel—not the link, the number in the message, or the account that sent the message. Mistake 6: Trusting fake support accounts on social media This is a specialised and growing threat called angler phishing. Hackers exploit customer service interactions on social media platforms such as X, Facebook, and Instagram to steal and gain access to users’ accounts. To do this, hackers monitor public timelines for users’ complaints or questions and rapidly deploy fake customer service accounts to reply. Here is how it works: You post a complaint or ask for help A fake “support” account jumps in They send you a link or DM that looks official You click… your account is gone. Users often miss critical red flags, such as a support account being recently created, the number of followers, or a website URL or username that looks suspicious. Also, an account with a blue check on X doesn’t guarantee authenticity; anyone can buy one. Fix: Never trust support accounts that message you first. Always contact companies through their actual website or social media accounts. Granting too many third-party apps permissions Many users click “allow” without checking the permissions they’re granting a third-party app or the security risk it poses. These are the ways that granting third-party apps can expose you to hacking: Mistake 7: Giving third-party apps too much access Some apps ask for far more access than they need. If those apps are ever hacked, hackers can use those permissions to post on your behalf and steal your information. Many third-party apps and games request broad access to a user’s social media data upon installation. It is a significant mistake to grant permissions that are not strictly essential for the app’s functionality— such as allowing a simple game to access location data, contact lists, or media. Fix: Only give apps the permissions they need. Review your connected apps regularly.
Read MoreHere is why bank transfers in Nigeria will cost more from 2026
This is Follow the Money, our weekly series that unpacks the earnings, business, and scaling strategies of African fintechs and financial institutions. A new edition drops every Monday. From January 2026, sending ₦50,000 ($34.14) through your bank app could cost you ₦100 in transfer fees. Not because banks suddenly changed their pricing, but because the Nigerian government has changed who pays for electronic transfers. Five years after replacing stamp duty with the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), Nigeria is reintroducing stamp duties, according to new budget documents, and the shift will change how everyday transfers work. Introduced in 2020, EMTL imposed a flat, one-off ₦50 charge on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 ($6.83) and above, paid by the receiver, as part of the government’s push to diversify revenue away from oil and tap into Nigeria’s booming e-payments market, which hit ₦1 quadrillion in 2024. However, under the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, EMTL has been renamed stamp duty and expanded to include duties payable on chargeable instruments, including tax stamps, electronic tagging, electronic receipts, and certificate issuance. “Compliance with the approved Regulations governing the administration of Stamp Duties will be enforced to ensure full collections over the medium term,” the Nigerian government wrote in a budget document. For transfers, the ₦50 charge will no longer be a one-off deduction on funds received. From 2026, the obligation shifts to the sender, turning stamp duty into an additional cost layered on top of existing transfer fees. While the shift from EMTL to stamp duty rewrites who bears the cost of digital payments, it also makes what was once an invisible deduction on money received become a visible, repeated expense on every transfer sent, reshaping consumer behaviour, fintech pricing models, and the government’s long-term bet on electronic payments as a dependable revenue stream. How it affects transfers Today, most bank customers already pay transfer fees: ₦10 for transfers below ₦5,000; ₦25 for transfers between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000; ₦50 for transfers above ₦50,000. From 2026, sending ₦10,000 or more will cost between ₦75 and ₦100 per transfer, depending on the amount. While the money received stays whole, the sender pays more in transfer fees. The 2026 Transfer Cost Simulator See how the new Stamp Duty rule affects your wallet. I usually send (₦) ₦ How often do I do this? Once a month Weekly (4x a month) Every few days (10x a month) Daily (30x a month) Business / Heavy (100x a month) Today (2025) ₦0 monthly fees From Jan 2026 ₦0 monthly fees Sender Pays The Impact: The ₦50 levy is no longer deducted from the receiver. You (the sender) must pay it on top. This adds ₦0 to your costs every year. Source: Nigeria Tax Act 2025 / Current Banking Tiers • Built by TechCabal For businesses, this technically removes the need to pass on an extra ₦50 deduction to customers receiving payments. For PoS agents, who often bake every possible charge into withdrawal fees, it eliminates the extra ₦50 deduction on transfers above ₦10,000. This increases the transfer burden for transaction initiators, unlike before, when it was split between both the receiver and sender. For fintechs like OPay and PalmPay, which built growth on cheap or outright free transfers, transactions above ₦10,000 will now come at an extra cost to senders. Digital payments in Nigeria grew because they were fast, simple, and relatively affordable. Each new layer of fees chips away at that advantage. While stamp duty will help fund the growing needs of governance, Nigerians will pay for it, ₦50 at a time, every time they send money, across all platforms. The numbers EMTL is a small but growing source of government revenue. It generated ₦219.11 billion ($149.61 million) in 2024, beating its ₦174.24 billion ($118.98 million) projection. Between January and July 2025 alone, it had already earned ₦211.75 billion ($144.59 million), over 92% of its ₦228.85 billion ($156.27 million) full-year target. That growth was driven largely by the extension of the levy to fintech platforms such as OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint. Initially, EMTL applied only to banks. Since December 2024, fintech transactions have been brought fully into the net With the expanded stamp duty regime, the government is projecting ₦456.07 billion ($311.42 million) in revenue in 2026, rising to ₦579.82 billion ($395.92 million) in 2027 and ₦752.45 billion ($513.79 million) in 2028. These figures are already baked into medium-term budget planning, making stamp duty a key pillar of fiscal certainty. Also, under EMTL, revenue was shared between the federal government (15%), state governments (50%), and local governments (35%). Under the new tax law, the federal share drops to 10%, while states take 55%. Replacing EMTL with stamp duty is part of a broader package of tax reforms set to take effect in January 2026. “The new tax laws were enacted to improve tax collection and grow non-oil revenue,” the government said in a new budget document. The extra ₦50 people have to pay is insignificant in isolation, but multiplied across millions of daily transfers, it adds up to hundreds of billions for the government, and steadily erodes affordability for Nigerians who rely on digital payments to move money quickly and cheaply. Exchange rate used: ₦1,464.5/$
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Tecno Spark 40 review: TDV certification, price and full specs
The Tecno Spark 40 is the latest addition to Tecno’s Spark lineup, a lineup tailored for buyers who want budget-friendly smartphones with a long battery life, a big display, and a decent camera. The Spark 40 delivers reliable day-to-day performance, a smooth interface, and features that offer value for its price. Buyers get a 50-megapixel primary rear camera with dual flash, an 8-megapixel front camera with flash for clean pictures, a big 6.67-inch display, a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth transitions, and a big 5200 mAh battery that lasts a whole day. Announced on July 2, 2025, the Tecno Spark 40 ships with Android 15 and HiOS 15.1, so you’re getting the latest software after purchase. Tecno Spark 40 price in Nigeria The 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage option usually sells between ₦132,531 ($91.40) and ₦150,000 ($103.45). The higher model with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB costs around ₦270,000 ($186.21). The additional ₦70,000 ($48.28) is the added charge for improved performance and extra storage. Tecno Spark 40 full specifications The Tecno Spark 40 delivers a lot of value to budget users. It focuses on a big display, a reasonable refresh rate, and a strong battery. Model build The phone measures 165.6 mm in height, 77 mm in width, 7.7 mm in thickness, and weighs 188 grams. A Corning Gorilla Glass protects the screen. The frame is plastic and contributes significantly to its light weight. It has an IP64 rating, which gives protection against dust and water splashes. It is also drop-resistant up to 1.5m. It is available in Ink Black, Titanium Grey, Veil White, and Mirage Blue. Display Buyers get a 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen with an 84.2% screen-to-body ratio. The resolution is 720 x 1600 pixels, and the pixel density is up to 263ppi. Its 120Hz refresh rate keeps scrolling and transitions smoothly. Performance and software The budget-friendly smartphone runs on the Mediatek Helio G81, built on a 12 nm process, for the non-NFC version, while the NFC version runs on the Mediatek Helio G91, also built on a 12 nm process. The processor features two Octa-core 2.0 GHz and six Cortex-A75 at 1.8 GHz. The Mali-G52 MC2 handles the graphics. The software delivers enough power to run at 120Hz without paying a higher price. It also ships with Android 15 and HiOS 15.1 and features an Ella voice assistant. Memory and storage Buyers can choose between 4 GB, 6 GB, or 8 GB of RAM, with storage options of 128 GB and 256 GB. For buyers who need more space, the smartphone supports a microSDXC card. Cameras The rear camera system features a 50MP wide-angle PDAF camera with an Auxiliary lens and a dual-LED flash. The front camera is an 8 MP wide-angle and supports Dual-LED flash for better low-light imaging. The rear camera records at 1440p@30fps and 1080p@30fps. The front camera records at 1080p@30fps. Battery and charging Tecno Spark 40 comes with a 5200 mAh battery. Charging is 45 W and takes approximately 55 minutes to reach 100%. Connectivity and sensors The phone supports dual Nano SIMs with GSM/HSPA/LTE. Buyers get Wi-Fi, and selected markets get NFC. Ports include an infrared port and a USB Type-C port. Security options include a side fingerprint sensor and Face Unlock. Tecno Spark 40 4-year lag-free promise The Tecno Spark 40 is officially advertised as offering a 4-year lag-free guarantee, meaning users will get optimal performance from the device 4 years after purchase. The phone is designed for outstanding durability, reducing the need for frequent replacements over the 4 years. Other models of the phone, such as the Tecno Spark 40 Pro and the Tecno Spark 40 Pro+, are marketed with a 5-year lag-free guarantee. Why budget phones usually lag after a year Budget phones’ performance drops after a year because they mostly use less powerful components, such as processors, and are made from less durable materials. They receive fewer software/security updates to justify their low prices. Budget phone users often experience battery degradation, lag, and frequent hardware replacements after a year of use. Why is the Tecno 40 Spark different? What is TÜV SÜD certification? TÜV SÜD (Technischer Überwachungsverein Süd, meaning Technical Inspection Association South) is a globally recognised independent testing, inspection, and certification organisation based in Germany. The certification is for fluency ratings of Android mobiles with touchscreens, meaning the device has undergone inspections and meets specific safety, quality, and sustainability criteria. The certification process is in two phases: 60-month fluency rating: Used to evaluate how smoothly the product operates after ageing, based on a 60-month model. 72-month fluency rating: Is used to evaluate how smoothly the product operates after ageing based on a 72-month model. By passing the third-party certification process, the Tecno Spark 40 demonstrates its quality despite being a budget phone. However, buyers should know that the certification is a lab-controlled test and doesn’t guarantee that the battery won’t degrade if charged with a bad charger, or that the screen won’t break if dropped with considerable force. Tecno Spark 40 comparison with other Spark versions The Tecno Spark 40 is a budget-friendly smartphone that offers value to buyers with a strong battery, a 120Hz refresh rate, 4G LTE, and a 50MP camera that delivers clean pictures. Tecno Spark 30 The Tecno Spark 30 offers a slightly different focus than the newer Spark 40. It uses the Helio G91 chipset (found in the NFC version of the Spark 40) but stands out with a 64 MP Sony IMX682 primary camera. While the Spark 40 focuses on speed and durability with its 45 W charging and IP64 rating, the Spark 30 prioritised raw camera resolution, offering a sharper sensor than the 50 MP found on the newer model. Tecno Spark 30C The Spark 30C is the direct blueprint for the Spark 40. It introduced the 120 Hz refresh rate on an HD+ screen and used the Helio G81 chipset, just like the standard Spark 40. However, the Spark 30C charges more slowly with 18
Read MoreDay 1-1000 of Travella: “We are the future of decentralised logistics”
Moses Ogunranti knew when the Nigerian logistics system stopped making sense for him. In 2016, after partnering with GreenLab Microfactory, a social innovation hub, to build robotic kits for kids, delivering these same kits across the nation was impractical. For kits built on the premise of affordability, domestic shipping was costly and digging deep into his profit margins. Even sourcing components from local suppliers as a small business had challenges of its own. “We would buy components from Lagos for about ₦1,500 ($1.03)…and then we end up delivering it to our office for ₦4,500 ($3.08).” The problem was, no one was truly solving it. Not the key players in the logistics industry offering high prices with slow delivery times, or bus drivers with swift delivery and no way to be held accountable. For Ogunranti, it certainly wasn’t logistics and transportation startups that aggregated delivery prices of more popular logistics companies to determine theirs. By 2018, a light bulb went off in his head. What if travellers picked up packages as they commuted across states, and earned money while they did? He did not know it yet, but that was the beginning of Travella, a consumer-driven logistics company, redefining the status quo of logistics in Nigeria. Day 1: Where the journey begins Ogunranti and his co-founder, Olufemi Christopher Agboola, launched Travella in January 2021. “We allow everybody to be able to get involved in the delivery process,” Ogunranti says of the company’s operations. “That means, if you’re travelling, you can pick a package, whether you’re going as a passenger in a public transport system or you own your own vehicle,” Ogunranti says. Travellers can pick up a maximum of five parcels less than 3kg each and make, on average, ₦10,000 per trip. To determine what each parcel weighs, senders declare the weight and value of the parcels they want delivered. Hundred users and three months later, Ogunranti wanted to scale. He signed up for Lion’s Den, a pan-African pitching show modelled after the American TV series, Shark Tank. The then 23-year-old student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), secured funding for his ‘peer-to-peer’ logistics company with the buy-in of three investors. A critical challenge with the peer-to-peer logistics system that Ogunranti was building was trust. On the pitch show, investors said as much. He recalls, “One popular question asked on the show was, how are you guys going to handle trust?” Just like drivers on ride-hailing apps, Travella approached its travellers as independent contractors: conducting background checks and appraising them with a rating system. Every traveller is registered on Travella’s system and verified by their Bank Verification Number (BVN), which allows Travella to know their name, state of origin and other important details. Travella implemented geo-tracking to know where travellers were at all points during their commute times. The company makes sure all items are covered in case of an unforeseen loss financially protecting its customers. But verifying the travellers and tracking their journey was half the problem solved—how do the senders know to reach travellers delivering packages for them? Day 300: The voyage for better visibility Lion’s Den aired in January 2022, and leveraging social media, word began to spread about Travella. For many businesses who were “looking for the cheapest, the fastest system,” Travella began to spread through word of mouth advertising. And so, capturing the B2B market became easier. It was truly logistics for the people, by the people. Ogunranti says. “We sell to clients, affordability and 24-hour service delivery, which is hard for centralised delivery services to do. Affordability and speed don’t often come together in the same scope.” To determine the pricing for goods sent, Travella operated under a negotiation-based pricing system, where customers set prices that were comfortable for them. But as time passed, this became impractical. Get The Best African Tech Newsletters In Your Inbox Select your country Nigeria Ghana Kenya South Africa Egypt Morocco Tunisia Algeria Libya Sudan Ethiopia Somalia Djibouti Eritrea Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Central African Republic Chad Cameroon Gabon Equatorial Guinea São Tomé and Príncipe Angola Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia Lesotho Eswatini Mozambique Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Comoros Cape Verde Guinea-Bissau Senegal The Gambia Guinea Sierra Leone Liberia Côte d’Ivoire Burkina Faso Mali Niger Benin Togo Other Select your gender Male Female Others TC Daily TC Events TC Scoop Subscribe Day 700: Stop signs and sour negotiations By late 2023, Ogunranti and his team realised that consumer-driven pricing came with challenges they could not look away from. What was once a unique value proposition started to raise friction between the senders and the travellers. “We figured the bargaining wouldn’t work.” Ogunranti says, “It was…stressful. [One person] charging a lot, and then [another] debating and debating. It wasn’t going to work, so we scrapped it.” Ogunranti particularly considered that for the small businesses who comprised a large portion of his client base, running a business and having to constantly bargain logistics prices at a car park was unnecessarily complicated. By early 2024, Travella transitioned from a negotiation pricing model to a standard pricing model, charging a flat rate of ₦ 4,500 ($3.08) for packages up to 3 kg, a percentage of which the company earns as revenue. DAY 1000 and the miles after: Coverage, expansion and security With 10,000 successful deliveries across Nigeria, Travella is inching closer to its operational sweet spot and earning invaluable trust from its customers. Ogunranti’s promise is that Travella will always deliver: Customers will receive their packages in 36 hours. And if the time elapses, Travella’s recovery team steps in to speed up the process, issuing the sender a full refund while still delivering their package as agreed. This is the last mile hurdle that remains in Travella’s operations. On Lion’s Den, as a young founder, Ogunranti had shared plans to have Travella’s staff situated at every park to handle hand-offs to the last mile. Travella established offices in key locations within its operational routes
Read MoreThe Antigua gambit goes bust: The mobility shortcut that African nomads just lost
Antigua and Barbuda, the twin-island Caribbean state with 98,000 people, occupied a strategic position in the global mobility market for years. It was neither a financial centre nor a major migration destination. Yet it played a crucial role in how capital, talent, and ambition from the Global South navigated the world’s most restrictive borders. The country’s citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programme functioned as infrastructure. It was not designed for settlement, but for movement. Applicants did not buy into Antigua because they intended to relocate there, build companies there, or even visit frequently. They bought it because the passport travelled far. Antigua’s passport, which opens visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 144 countries, travels farther than Nigeria’s 51. Nigeria’s passport has long been a bottleneck for its wealthiest and most globally oriented citizens. Entrepreneurs and senior professionals with legitimate business in Europe or North America routinely encounter lengthy processing times, high rejection rates, and opaque decision-making at foreign consulates. Access to capital and markets often hinges on the discretion of visa officers. A Caribbean citizenship offered a way to rebalance that asymmetry. An Antiguan passport dramatically expands visa-free access, moving its holder from the margins of the global mobility system closer to its centre. While it does not guarantee entry into the US, it allows Nigerians seeking mobility opportunities to approach US consulates without the automatic suspicion attached to a Nigerian passport. In mobility terms, it was a hedge. However, on December 16, that hedge collapsed. US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation placing Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, another Caribbean state, under partial US entry restrictions beginning January 1, 2026. Nationals of both countries are now barred from obtaining all immigrant visas, including family-sponsored, employment-based, and diversity visas. The White House cited Caribbean CBI programmes as tools used to “conceal identity and bypass vetting requirements.” Mobility as a business infrastructure Wealthy Nigerians have been among the highest buyers of Antigua and Barbuda citizenship since 2020. In H1 2024, Nigerians accounted for 9.07% of all applications, behind only China and the US. Sixty-six Nigerian applicants received Antiguan passports during that window, paying over $6.6 million into the country’s National Development Fund (NDF). Morocco (2.84%), Egypt (2.57%), Tunisia (1.22%), and South Africa (1.22%) were the only other African countries on the list. Antigua and Barbuda’s citizenship programme raised tens of millions of dollars annually through its NDF, even as overall demand cooled from its 2018 peak. Nigerians increasingly filled part of that demand, particularly as access routes through Europe tightened, and traditional visas became more unpredictable. It is helpful to pause here and consider how foreign capital actually flows into African markets. It is no secret that a significant share of investor money flowing into African startups originates outside the continent, particularly from the US. For founders seeking that capital, access often requires showing up. Building relationships, gaining entry to Silicon Valley hubs, and participating in pitch meetings still depend heavily on physical presence, repeated interactions, and trust built over time. Mobility, in this sense, becomes part of the business stack. An Antiguan passport was never a guarantee of entry into the US. Holders still applied for business or student visas, appeared for interviews, and still submitted to the discretion of consular officers. Yet its value lay elsewhere: it eased the burden of proof. Applications were less likely to stall on nationality alone, and travel histories read as lower risk within systems designed to triage passports before people. Trump’s proclamation strains that plausibility from multiple directions. Nigeria, a major African economic and tech hub out of the ‘Big Four,’ was partially banned, with the White House citing high overstay rates. New applicants approaching US consulates with Nigerian passports will now encounter tougher bureaucracy in proving their intent to return home. Those attempting to apply through Antiguan citizenship will face scepticism that the proclamation explicitly anticipates, causing a double whammy for the average traveller. Even applicants who acquired Caribbean passports earlier in the year have already seen their efforts stall, according to a local media publication, as US scrutiny intensified following the administration’s clampdown beginning in June. When the route narrows In recent years, Antigua and Barbuda’s citizenship programme has been regaining momentum. After a quieter period earlier in the decade—before its previous 2018 peak—the country’s visa application volumes picked up through 2023 and into 2024. In H1 2024, the tiny island country recorded 739 applications, exceeding the total number received in the whole of the previous year. It signalled renewed confidence in the passport as a mobility tool. Now, as one route narrows for Nigerian entrepreneurs who’d sought easier access through the passport, others come into focus. Professionals seeking mobility could turn their focus to residency pathways—though they take time and serious commitment—rather than investment visas that are coming under scrutiny from other countries in the world. Residency programmes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provide stable bases for global work without relying on access to the US visa system. European visas, such as Portugal’s D7, appeal to founders whose operations or investors are EU-facing. The broader implication is not about one passport losing value. It is about how digital nomads and globally oriented professionals adapt when policy removes friction in one place and introduces it in another. What shifts when access tightens For years, Caribbean citizenship offered Nigerian founders, professionals, and digital nomads a way to participate in global circuits without relocating their lives entirely. It allowed them to move between markets, capital, and networks while remaining anchored at home. That balance is now harder to maintain. As access tightens, mobility decisions become more consequential. Some professionals will remain in Nigeria and absorb additional friction, treating visa delays and denials as an unavoidable cost of operating globally. Others will redraw their personal maps, choosing jurisdictions that offer predictability even if they demand permanence. Antigua and Barbuda’s programme succeeded because it recognised a gap between where ambition originates and where opportunity concentrates. It sold access, not belonging. The US has now signalled that this
Read MoreIn 2025, Nigerian creators use AI to scale. Yet they fear its flaws.
For most Nigerian content creators, staying online is often the easiest part of the job. The real struggle happens in the background: creators wrestle with erratic data connections and the daunting task of tailoring global technology to a local audience. For years, the solution was simply to work harder, but in 2025, the game changed. This year, artificial intelligence (AI) moved from a playground for the curious to the engine room for the productive. With limited infrastructure, rising data costs, and intense competition for attention, efficiency is no longer optional but essential to survival and growth. AI offers creators practical ways to compress time, reduce costs, and compete on a global stage without expanding their teams or budgets. These tools are reshaping how Nigerian creators sustain their work, scale their output, and remain visible in an increasingly crowded creator economy. I spoke to some top Nigerian content creators, including Fisayo Fosudo, Mercy Thaddeus, and Akunne Emmanuel, to understand how they are integrating AI into their creative workflow to improve efficiency and output, as well as the creative decisions they refuse to hand over to machines. Scripting and narrative architecture The most immediate impact of AI this year has been the death of the “blank page” syndrome, a common challenge where creators stare at an empty page or screen, struggling to turn ideas into structured content. For many creators, the process of moving from a raw idea to a structured narrative has been compressed from hours into a matter of minutes. Akunne Emmanuel, the tech creator who breaks down product design to his audience on his BuildWithDudu Instagram page, often starts his creative process with a rough personal script. He uses AI to refine the angle and ensure the message flows naturally. “Once I have an idea, I can generate a strong first-pass outline in under ten minutes, then spend my time refining tone and insight instead of staring at a blank page,” Emmanuel says. Mercy Thaddeus, an AI content creator who breaks down Artificial Intelligence for her audience and is known as Mercythaddeus_ on Instagram, says she uses Gemini for “refining my scripts. Refining scripts with Gemini is part of a wider shift in how creative work is being produced globally. Generative AI tools are increasingly used not just for grammar or tone, but for structuring ideas, tightening narratives, and speeding up production cycles. According to findings from research presented by Adobe MAX, which surveyed over 16,000 creators across the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, India, and Australia to examine the mindsets, behaviours, and expectations shaping the future of creative work and the creator economy. The study found that a significant majority of creators now integrate AI into their workflows, particularly for writing, editing, and ideation, seeing these tools as collaborators that help them work faster and push their ideas further rather than replacements for human creativity. TechCabal’s content creator, Ayodeji Aboderin, turned to AI in 2025 to build what he calls “content engines. By feeding frameworks into models like ChatGPT, he can deconstruct complex technical topics into simple, relatable stories. Aboderin explains the shift in his process: “It makes it very, very easy to break down ideas and make [them] into simple ways the audience can understand.” Technical prototyping and visualisation In a market where high-quality stock footage or a dedicated design team can be prohibitively expensive, creators are using AI to “show” rather than just “tell.” Beyond the written word, AI has become a silent partner in the production of visual assets and technical demonstrations. Thaddeus leverages her background in software engineering to use AI coding assistants to change how she presents products. “I know how to build products, but it is time-consuming and often requires a team,” she says. “ Before, building a landing page or a simple tool would take a full day of coding. Now, I can use AI coding assistants to spin up a functional prototype or a clean UI in about 20 minutes. This allows me to show rather than just tell in my videos.” Aboderin has adopted a similar approach for visual storytelling, noting that he no longer spends hours scouring sites like Unsplash. He now generates bespoke visual assets to illustrate specific narratives. “It [is] easy to visualise with AI, as opposed to looking for imagery or visuals that will tell [a] story. I [don’t] have to go and search for it. I just generate it from scratch,” he says. Research and deep exploration Research has traditionally been the most time-consuming part of the creative cycle, but in 2025, AI agents have taken over the heavy lifting of data gathering. Fisayo Fosudo uses tools like Gemini to explore different angles for his famous gadget reviews. Rather than relying on AI for the “news” itself, he uses it to figure out how to “attack” a topic or discover which elements of a new device are most relevant to his audience. “We do our research [by ourselves]. We just use [AI] to explore different angles of how to tackle stuff, rather than rely on it like ‘this is the news,” Fosudo explains. Aboderin takes this a step further by deploying AI agents to scan patterns and recurring conversations across the web. “I can automate that process and send agents on errands to learn about it while I do other stuff,” he says. However, this efficiency comes with a caveat; Fosudo warns that AI-driven research can often present outdated information as current fact: “Websites may have an article from 2003, but the date [on the AI-researched article] says 2025, so I don’t rely on information given to me.” Strategic outreach and monetisation The impact of AI has also bled into the business side of content creation, specifically in how creators manage their professional relationships. While AI doesn’t replace the networking required to land a big deal, it has significantly reduced the friction of communication. Creators now use AI tools to draft outreach emails to brands, generate personalised pitch decks, and summarise
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5 African startups transforming payments, programming, and pedagogy
Startups On Our Radar spotlights African startups solving African challenges with innovation. In our previous edition, we featured seven game-changing startups pioneering healthcare, transportation, education, and artificial intelligence. Expect the next dispatch on December 26, 2025. This week, we explore five African startups in the education, fintech, software development, and artificial intelligence sectors and why they should be on your watchlist. Let’s dive into it: CodeFundi is turning AI agents into a software teammate for global development teams (AI, Kenya) Felix Waweru, a software engineer with a decade of experience, founded CodeFundi in 2023 to solve the reliability and maintenance issues plaguing software development. He realised that while writing code is a part of the job, testing, documentation, debugging, and long-term maintenance are often slow, error-prone, and too complex to manage manually. CodeFundi addresses this with its all-in-one AI solution that automates coding, testing, and documentation to help teams maintain software faster and more reliably. Rather than have users copy and paste snippets into a chatbot, CodeFundi connects directly to a team’s codebase, such as repositories hosted on GitHub, to understand an entire software project. This allows users to interact with their codebase through a conversational interface to understand complex packages or generate new features. On the backend of this conversation, CodeFundi uses multiple specialised AI agents with different roles. One conducts research and deeply analyses the code, another maintains contextual memory of the user and organisation, and a third compiles results into actionable outputs. This setup allows the platform to automatically identify bugs, generate fixes, write tests to validate those fixes, and produce detailed technical documentation explaining how each part of the code works. The platform also includes analytics that show teams which programming languages or components dominate their projects. CodeFundi operates on a subscription model ranging from a $5 monthly starter plan to a $1,000 monthly enterprise tier that offers on-premise hosting for data security or region-specific deployments. The startup also offers credit-based usage and an API, currently in beta testing, that allows companies to embed CodeFundi’s AI agents directly into their own products. Why we’re watching: CodeFundi is modelling its system on how real engineering teams work. It breaks software development into discrete tasks handled by multiple collaborating AI agents, which mirrors the separation of responsibilities between frontend, backend, testing, and documentation teams. Waweru says that this approach improves reliability and reduces the forgetfulness that can occur when one AI handles everything. The startup competes with tools focused solely on testing, such as Zof AI, and other AI product development platforms like Kasa AI and Bolt AI. They have secured partnerships with Google Cloud, Microsoft for Startups, and Cognition AI, the team behind Devin. CodeFundi claims to have acquired 5,000 users across 47 countries since its launch, and says it has crossed $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue as a bootstrapped business. TalkPDF AI wants to turn PDFs into interactive tutors in local languages (Edtech, Nigeria) TalkPDF AI is an AI-powered learning assistant built to help students move from regular memorisation to real understanding. The idea came when founder Lukman Abimbola saw his younger sister struggle to prepare for her West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). Despite spending hours rereading chemistry textbooks, she could not explain basic concepts because she was memorising words instead of trying to understand the concepts. Her breakthrough came when Abimbola asked her to explain the ideas back to him in Yoruba, as if she were teaching a younger cousin. That moment shaped Abimbola’s core insight: that many students fail because they are forced to learn complex ideas in a second language, with no way to validate whether they truly understand what they’ve studied. To solve this language-induced learning crisis, TalkPDF AI converts textbooks and PDFs into an interactive audio tutor in English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Pidgin. A student uploads a text-based study material, and the system instantly converts it into natural-sounding audio in the learner’s preferred language. As the student listens, the AI pauses at key concepts and activates what Abimbola calls an explain-back mode, asking the learner to explain the idea in their own words. If the student repeats textbook jargon or gives a memorised definition, the system pushes back and asks for a simpler explanation, prompting them to explain as if they were teaching a 10-year-old. Each chapter is graded with an understanding score, as users can earn bronze, silver, or gold badges. The system also schedules spaced repetition for concepts the learner has not fully mastered. TalkPDF AI is currently in beta and has sold 43 out of 50 paid beta slots, with full launch scheduled for early 2026. The startup operates a freemium model, with a limited free tier offering five minutes of audio per day, and a Student Pro plan priced at ₦40,000 ($27.47) yearly, which includes unlimited uploads, full explain-back mode, offline downloads, and all supported languages. Why we’re watching: TalkPDF AI stands out from competitors like uLesson, Gradely, and MyLesson for combining active learning with local-language support. By merging active validation, which refuses to let students fake understanding, with offline functionality and local language support, the startup addresses African infrastructure challenges of data costs and language barriers. TalkPDF AI is planning B2B licensing deals with universities, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and an expansion into K–12 exam preparation. The startup is preparing a pre-seed raise to fund product development, campus ambassadors, and university pilots. Ubuntu X wants to unlock global payments for Francophone Africa (Fintech, Cameroon) Founded by Manuel Songfack, Njinowo Brandon, Miamo Karl, and Fitzgerald Mouliom, Ubuntu X is a Cameroon-based cross-border payments and remittance startup building infrastructure to move money seamlessly across African countries and the rest of the world. The founders observed that global transactions from the U.S. or Europe are seamless. However, sending money from Cameroon to neighbours like Nigeria or Benin or to major trade hubs like China remains slow and expensive. Ubuntu X is building a mobile-native payment gateway
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