UAE markets receive 1.5 million mobile phones

The total shipments of mobile phones to the UAE during the first quarter of this year amounted to 1.5 million devices, valued at about 1.8 billion dirhams (494.6 million dollars), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), which is specialized in communications and information technology research.

The data obtained by the Union stated that the shipments of mobile phones from global manufacturers to their authorized agents and distributors in the UAE amounted to 1.360 million smartphones, valued at about 1.8 billion dirhams (492.3 million dollars), compared to 139.5 million traditional devices, valued at 8.70 million.

The data monitored by the Corporation in the mobile phone market indicated the continued dominance of smartphones over traditional phones in the local market; where the first type accounted for more than 99.55% of the total value of phones shipped to the country; compared to about 0.45% for traditional phones.

UAE Smartphone market suffers declines as demand continues to weaken

As for the number of units, smartphones accounted for 90.7% of the total number of units received by the local market, compared to 9.3% for traditional phones. Ramadan Yafuz, Senior Director of Research - Mobile Devices at IDC; says that the UAE accounted for a quarter of phone shipments to the Gulf countries; which are the markets that received a combined 6.1 million devices.

He pointed out that the market witnessed an exceptional rise during the first quarter of 2021; as a result of pent-up demand when the market was in the stage of recovery from Covid; which led to a lull in demand in early 2022.

In the Gulf, recent data from IDC showed that shipments of mobile phones to the Gulf Cooperation Council; decreased by 0.8% on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2022; to reach a total of 6.10 million units.

Smartphone shipments rose 0.4% compared to the previous quarter to 5.47 million units; while feature phone shipments declined 9.8% during the same period to 0.63 million units. The size of the smartphone market in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries reached $2.09 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021; a decrease of 4.5% on a quarterly basis.