Dubai: With over a 76 per cent smartphone penetration, more than three out of four people in the UAE are using smartphones.
New smartphone releases have also seen a 41.67 per cent growth in the third quarter of 2014.
“The shipments were better than expected and unusually high. Usually, the third quarter of the year is a slow quarter,” said Nabila Popal, research manager for mobile handsets at International Data Corporation (IDC).
Samsung seems to be the preferred brand amongst UAE smartphone users, holding a 37 per cent of the market share in the third quarter. It was followed by Apple with 12 per cent and Lenovo with 10 per cent.
Brands, which have launched smartphones at one-third of the price of their premium counterparts, have captured 6 per cent of the market share during the same time.
In the basic phones segment, Nokia is still reigns with about 68 per cent share of the market in the UAE.
“As long as Dubai continues to be a transit city with a large proportion of construction workers, these phones will remain to be in some demand here. Additionally, phones have become the highest trading commodity. Dubai is not just a transit city for people, but also for phones — that are re-exported to other countries from here,” Popal said.
