GCC mobile phone market sees surge in demand

dubai - The region's smartphone market marked a 1.1 per cent growth to 4 million units in Q3

Smartphone shipments to the GCC increased for the first time in the third quarter of 2018 since the first quarter of 2017, signifying a stabilisation for the market that has suffered 5 consecutive quarters of declines, said International Data Corporation (IDC), a market intelligence provider.

The region's smartphone market marked a 1.1 per cent growth to 4 million units in Q3, driven by a surge in the feature phone segment.

IDC expects the overall GCC mobile market to see a single-digit decline year on year in 2018, with growth returning again in 2019.
Samsung maintained its lead in the quarter with 31.2 per cent share of the GCC market, despite suffering a 3 per cent QoQ decline in shipments. Apple and Huawei followed with respective shares of 25 per cent and 18.7 per cent.

According to a recent report by Newzoo, Samsung is beating Apple in global smartphone sales as Chinese makers like Xiaomi, Oppo and Huawei are closing in.

Globally, while there were 3.6 billion active smartphones in use in June 2018, the most popular smartphone brand was Samsung, boasting 893 million active devices and a market share of 27 per cent. Apple was a close second, with a market share of 24 per cent, according to Newzoo.

The IDC report said feature phones continued to grow from strength to strength with shipments to the GCC increasing 6.7 per cent quarter on quarter to reach 1.9 million units.

"This meant the overall GCC mobile phone market saw a combined total of 5.9 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2018, up 2.9 per cent on the previous quarter, with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait responsible for driving the market's growth," IDC said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia was the region's top-performing market in the quarter, with overall mobile phone shipments increasing 8.4 per cent QoQ.

"It seems the negative effects of Saudisation and dependent taxes on the kingdom's mobile phone space are losing momentum and the market is beginning to settle down again," said Kafil Merchant, a research analyst at IDC.

"Additionally, new regulations requiring phones to carry IECEE certification have helped boost official shipments at the expense of gray market imports, while restrictions on the Kingdom's 2G network have seen an influx of cheaper 3G and 4G smartphones to fill the gap," said Merchant.

Kuwait's overall mobile phone market saw growth of 2.6 per cent while rest of the region was characterised by declines in Q3 with overall mobile phone shipments for the quarter down 4.2 per cent in Bahrain, 4.3 per cent in Oman and 7.3 per cent in the UAE.

Nabila Popal, a senior research manager at IDC, said the UAE mobile phone market is being hampered by an overall lack of disposable income and job security in the country, with the effects being felt across almost every sector. "Even events like Gitex Shopper that traditionally help boost electronic sales failed to have a significant impact."

- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com