Smartphone shipments to the GCC increased 6.3 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) in Q4 2019 to 5.15 million units, according to the latest report from International Data Corporation (IDC).
However, this was not enough to prevent a 0.2pc QoQ decline in the region’s overall mobile phone market, with feature phone shipments suffering a major decline of 18.1pc to 1.45 million units, said the global technology research and consulting firm.
Smartphones accounted for 78pc of overall mobile phone shipments in Q4 2019, up from 73.2pc in previous quarter.
The extreme decline in feature phone shipments stemmed from the fact that telcos and channel players across the region (particularly in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain) have actively started to move away from offering devices that support the 2G spectrum.
In terms of value, smartphone shipments increased 11.2pc QoQ to $1.2 billion, while the value of feature phone shipments slumped 20.8pc to $28.9m.
Together, the UAE and Saudi Arabia account for more than 75pc of the GCC smartphone market and saw shipments increase 9.9pc and 6.7pc QoQ, respectively, in Q4 2019.
Shipments also grew in Bahrain (9.6pc), Kuwait (2.1pc) and Qatar (3pc).
Oman was the only GCC market to suffer a decline, with smartphone shipments falling 2.2pc over the quarter.
“The shipment growth seen in some of the smaller GCC markets is a positive sign for the overall region, particularly as it comes after long periods of contraction,” says Akash Balachandran, a senior analyst at IDC.
“Previously, shipments had been constrained in these markets by the introduction new levies and taxes, shifting government policies, and challenging job conditions brought about by nationalisation programmes.”
Samsung continued to dominate the market in Q4 2019 with 40.6pc unit share, although this was down 5.1 percentage points on the previous quarter.
The contraction in Samsung’s unit share largely stemmed from supply chain shortages in the channel and strong performance of Apple and Xiaomi, which increased their shipments by 22.6pc and 51.4pc, respectively.
“Demand for Apple’s newly released iPhone 11 series exceeded all previous market predictions,” says Ramazan Yavuz, a senior research manager at IDC.
Shipments of Huawei devices to the region fell 1.7pc QoQ in Q4 2019, with the vendor accounting for 15.7pc share of the smartphone market, a significant decline from 24.3pc in Q4 2018.
Looking ahead, vendors and channel partners are expected to release new form factors and increasingly push 5G devices to consumers over the coming year.
Apple is slated to jump on the 5G bandwagon in late 2020, while Huawei will release the market’s third major mobile operating system, Harmony OS.
The UAE’s Expo 2020 event will also be a major boon for players in the GCC mobile industry.
However, the Covid-19 outbreak is likely to dampen mobile phone shipments over the course of the year, with IDC’s initial forecast of growth for the GCC market in 2020 being downgraded to a year-on-year decline of 1.4pc.
“The Covid-19 outbreak has created a lot of uncertainty in the smartphone industry and has had a huge impact on the supply chain for mobile devices,” says Mr Yavuz.
“As a result, our growth forecast for the GCC’s smartphone market has been revised downwards. After analysing various factors and considering multiple recovery scenarios, IDC is currently implementing the most probable scenario analysis and expecting a recovery in the overall situation by the second half of the year. Having said that, the next few weeks will be crucial in determining the trajectory of the virus, and IDC will be monitoring the situation closely.”