Dubai: iPhone 4S is the most popular smartphone in the UAE than iPhone 5 and Samsung S3, according to a findings released by Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
According to the report, 50 per cent of the handsets registered on networks in the UAE were manufactured by Nokia. This is followed by Blackberry (10.7 per cent), Samsung (10.7 per cent), Apple (8.4 per cent) and Sony Ericsson (1.5 per cent). The report also shows that the most commonly used mobile handset models are the Nokia 1280 with a 3.08 per cent market share of all mobile handsets registered on networks in the UAE, followed by iPhone 4S (2.93 per cent), Nokia X1-01 (2.9 per cent), Nokia E5 (2.61 per cent), iPhone 4 (2.58 per cent) and the Samsung SIII (2.11 per cent).
The report provides an interesting snapshot of the UAE’s mobile handset market share which has very distinct characteristics in terms of consumer adoption. It also reflects a dynamic ecosystem in which both feature phones and smartphones are emerging as the future growth engines of the telecommunications industry,” Mohammad Nasser Al Ganem, Director General, TRA said in a statement.
In terms of smartphones, iPhone 4S is the most popular smartphone in the UAE, followed by iPhone 4, Samsung SIII, iPhone 5, Blackberry Bold 9900 and Blackberry Bold 9780.
The most commonly used mobile handset operating system in the UAE is currently Symbian with 50 per cent market share, followed by iOS (13.8 per cent), Blackberry (10.7 per cent) and Android (10.4 per cent).
According to market sources, Apple’s iPhone 5 did not perform well in the UAE last year, although the iPhone 4 and 4S did better. For Samsung, the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 recorded brisk sales last year.
“iPhone was priced higher than almost all smartphones in the market. Samsung S3 sales increased more than fourfold than iPhone sales in the UAE,” Hamza Saleem, senior research analyst at IDC, said.
He that Nokia did not do well in the smartphone arena, even with Windows Phone 8, but its feature phones, like the Asha, had tremendous sales. Microsoft could only sell around 20,000 units in the UAE.
According to official figures, Apple could only sell around 5,000 units of iPhone 5 and around 35,000 units of iPhone 4S. However, this does not include grey market sales. Apple holds 3.4 per cent of UAE market, but if grey sales are also included, it may come to around 20 per cent.
