Mobile phone shipments in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain) totaled 6 million units in the first quarter of this year, registering slight growth of 1.1%. year to year due to factors. Akash Balachandran, Principal Research Analyst at IDC, said that the GCC mobile phone market has faced a number of challenges over the past year, caused by a combination of adverse macroeconomic conditions, public policy and change and lengthening of the business cycle. smartphone update. . However, compared to the significant declines that characterized much of 2018, he said quarterly growth numbers for the first three months suggest some market stabilization.
Smartphones grew 5,5% year-on-year, while multipurpose phones fell 8,7% in the first quarter.
According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), market growth was driven by smartphones, which amounted to 4,3 million units, while the multipurpose phone segment continued to fall, to 1 million. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the region's two largest markets, account for around 7% of mobile phone shipments in the region. Both countries posted respectable growth of 74% and 3.6%, respectively. "This is due to strong quarter-over-quarter growth in the smartphone segment, with shipments rising 1.3 percent in Saudi Arabia and 15,1 percent in the United Arab Emirates, driven by the Strong sales from vendors like Samsung and Huawei." < p class="bordeaux-image-check">
GCC Smartphone Market Share for Q2019 32.6 Samsung remains the leader in the GCC smartphone market, with 26.2% growth in Q16,5 and 25,9% growth in shipments, due to the launch of its new S Series and its well-received A-series appliances. Huawei continued its momentum, recording 1.2% growth in shipments compared to the same period, accounting for 21.5% of smartphone shipments in the market. Apple maintained its third position, posting 2018% growth in production quality; However, its share of the unit increased from 19.7% in Q2019 7.7 to 2018% in Q7.9 7.9. At the same time, Honor ranked fourth with a share of 2.0% for the quarter. Nabila Popal, head of research at IDC, said Huawei's strong performance keeps it in second place in the GCC smartphone market, as does its global ranking of smartphone vendors. "The Chinese giant's growth can be attributed to its well-balanced portfolio of models in key price ranges and a strong promotional push." Although its volume is relatively small, Honor is another fast-growing provider in the region. "CCG, with affordable prices, offers in the mid-range segment and strong growth that is currently focused on the Saudi market," he said. Some of GCC's smaller markets also had generally positive results in the smartphone segment (although this can be attributed to orders placed in Q2019 1.1), with Qatar and Oman posting increases of 0.2% and 2019%, respectively. 0,1% in QoQ terms of smartphone shipments for the first quarter of 2019. However, due to weak Hala sales in February, Bahrain and Kuwait posted a 4,9% drop and 2020% qoq. "Although IDC does not expect any significant growth in the mobile phone market in GCC countries in 2,6, Q2019 performance suggests we are now at the bottom," Popal said. "IDC expects global mobile phone shipments to increase 5.3% in 2020 and XNUMX% in XNUMX, while smartphone sales increase XNUMX% over the same period last year. XNUMX and XNUMX% in XNUMX.