Dubai: Smartphones seem to be the top electronics attraction for Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) shoppers, a number of electronics retailers have revealed.

Nadeem Khanzadah, Head of Retail at Jumbo Electronics, said: “Dubai Summer Surprises is one of the most-awaited events in Dubai’s retail calendar, and invites a great number of shoppers to take advantage of the offers and discounts in store.”

He said this year had generally been a good one for retailers in the UAE’s consumer electronics industry. “At Jumbo, we have experienced a spike in sales across popular product categories such as mobile phones, tablets and televisions, of up to 10 to 30 per cent.”

Khanzadah said they expect this trend to carry over through the DSS season, with a 15 per cent increase in sales. “As always Jumbo is giving customers a chance to get more value for their money through bundled offers and gifts on all the gadgets that are most in demand.”

The Samsung S5, HTC One (M8), Apple iPad Air, Fitbit Flex and the Beats Solo have all been Jumbo’s top-selling products during DSS 2014.

Nilesh Khalkho, CEO of Sharaf DG, said that DSS this year started after Eid and so Sharaf DG had extended a number of Eid offers to attract customers from the GCC who are here for DSS.

“Smartphones remain the top sought-after category this DSS as was the case in 2013. Almost 35 per cent of all customers are interested in buying a smartphone while 25 per cent of customers are interested in buying a Notebook during DSS 2014,” Khalkho said.

He said they see many customers upgrading to the new smartphone models offered by the leading brands.

Khalkho added that with schools reopening soon after the summer break, they expect more demand for smartphones, laptops, tablets and IT accessories.

Ashish Panjabi, Chief Operating Officer at Jacky’s Electronics, said DSS sales have been slow as they had just finished ten 10 days of Eid promotions, and many people had gone back to work after a long break.

However, he said, they “anticipate that sales will improve as DSS moves along as we expect a few new product launches in the smartphone and television segments that may prop up sales.”

Panjabi noted that they “saw June perform strongly which would’ve traditionally been when DSS happens as many people weren’t aware DSS was in August this year. But in any case, we expect the rest of DSS to improve [sales].”

At Jacky’s, the Samsung Galaxy S5 4G Duos seems to be the most in demand in the smartphones category.