07 Jan 2016

Dubai – 29.75 million mobile phones were shipped across the Middle East region during Q3 2015, marking a 4.4% increase on the previous quarter. That's according to the latest figures released by global research and consulting services firm International Data Corporation (IDC), which notes that the growth was spearheaded by the UAE, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia with respective quarter-on-quarter increases of 11.2%, 10.2%, and 5.7%. Combined, these three countries accounted for over 30% of the region's mobile shipments for the quarter.

The smartphone share of the region's mobile phone market continued to rise throughout 2015, and the same trend was visible in Q3 with the figure rising to 65.3%. Israel and Turkey lead the way, with smartphones making up at least 96% of their mobile phone shipments in Q3 2015. Conversely, Pakistan brings up the rear of the market with a smartphone share of just over 35%. For the GCC region, this share ranges between 77% and 81% depending on the country in question.

"A major factor driving the increase in smartphone shipments is the decline of the average selling price (ASP) for such devices," says Nabila Popal, research manager for mobile phones and displays at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. "The smartphone ASP for the Middle East declined almost 7% quarter on quarter in Q3 2015. Devices priced below $250 accounted for almost 60% of the region's smartphone shipments during the quarter, and this is a price band that is almost solely populated by the Android operating system (OS)."

Android remained the dominant force in the region's OS battle, accounting for more than 87% of the Middle East's smartphone shipments in Q3 2015, an increase of 7.3 percentage points on the previous quarter. Apple's iOS saw its share of the market decline by 7.4% over the same period as consumers awaited the launch of new iPhone models in the region.

"Smaller operating systems will most likely bow out of the battle sooner rather than later as they will no longer be able to compete with Android's or iOS's ever-expanding eco-system," says Saad Elkhadem, a research analyst at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. "There is also the fact that the price advantage many of them previously relied upon is no longer compelling enough to compete with the ever-expanding stable of low-price device offerings from Android, meaning this is one battle they are destined to lose."

Samsung, Apple, and Huawei remained the top three smartphone vendors in the Middle East during Q3 2015, with a combined share of over 60%. Samsung alone accounted for 41% of the region's smartphone shipments for the quarter. Fourth-placed Lenovo, saw its share rise to 4.8% after recording an impressive 41.2% increase in its shipments from the previous quarter.

As telecom network providers push ahead with infrastructure upgrades, handset vendors will continue to offer devices that will take advantage of such technologies. For example, shipments of FD-LET and FD-LTE Advanced handsets increased 14% when compared to Q2 2015, and that growth rate is only expected to increase over the coming quarters. IDC expects mobile phone shipments for 2016 as a whole in the Middle East to cross the 123 million mark, with smartphones accounting for over 70% of that figure.