Abu Dhabi — Smartphones and tablets are expected to see the strongest demand from consumers at this year’s edition of Abu Dhabi Electronics Shopper (ADES), with many key suppliers launching new versions of their phones at the event.
The exhibition, now in its third year, kicked off on Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), and is expected to attract over 70,000 visitors from March 18-21. It was inaugurated by Shaikh Nahyan Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth, and Community Development.
The event is also set to see a 20-25 per cent growth in sales turnover, according to Dony Cyril, director of exhibitions at Dome Exhibition, the event organisers.
“Abu Dhabi is a growing market, and we expect sales to be much better than last year. The main attractions of the exhibition will be the Samsung Galaxy S6, HTC One M9, and two launches from Nikon, and the pre-launch of the Hisense King Kong phone,” Cyril told Gulf News.
He added, “This time we’ll see a mixed reaction from consumers whereby demand for the latest mobiles is still on track, especially the latest launches, then it will a balance between the tablets and the latest television sets.”
With a stand at ADES, Samsung has started taking orders for the new Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge. Meanwhile, Hisense is offering demonstrations for its King Kong phone, which will be launched in the market in the next few months. The shockproof, dustproof, and waterproof phone is expected to see strong demand, Hisense said.
Upgrade
Also participating at the exhibition is Plug Ins, which is set to see a 40 per cent in sales this year’s edition compared to last year, according to Sean Conner, general manager at Plug Ins who agreed that most demand will come in for smartphones and tablets. He said that most users were second and third generation, and were looking to upgrade their gadgets.
Asked about demand for wearable technology, Conner said, “Wearables are embedded in the industry, and the challenge is how to demonstrate the products effectively. We won’t see the launch of the Apple Watch for a while in the UAE. Some of its price points are comparable to luxury watches and it’s hard to shift from the premium models.”
However, other exhibitors did not expect equal growth, with Toshiba citing economic downturn as a reason behind slower growth.
Binu Thomas, head of products and services at the Computer Systems Division at Toshiba, said he expected to see a three to four per cent increase from last year, saying that he did not see a lot of sales growth in comparison to last year’s edition.
