Major milestone for smartphones in the UAE

Fifty-seven per cent of all handsets registered on the country’s mobile networks are now smartphones, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. Antonie Robertson / The National

Smartphones have overtaken traditional handsets as the most popular devices in the UAE.

Fifty-seven per cent of all handsets registered on the country's mobile networks are now smartphones, of which the iPhone 5S was the most popular with a 3.5 per cent share, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

But with a host of new releases including the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus as well as Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, the top devices may change over the coming quarter, retailers say.

"The new releases are doing well," said Ajay Pathak, the head of mobility and solutions at Jumbo Electronics. "In fact the iPhone is all about the availability issue – whatever comes in finishes in a couple of hours. Demand for the iPhone 5S is already decreasing."

Both Etisalat and du are offering discounts on the device and attractive data plans for customers who purchase the new iPhones, which Mr Pathak said was the primary driver behind the strong sales.

The upcoming Christmas shopping period is also likely to have an impact on the sales of smartphones.

“Going by initial results, the Samsung Note 4 is selling better than the iPhone, but it is too early to say,” said Mahesh Chotrani, the assistant vice president at Jacky’s Electronics. “Christmas is the gift-giving season, and there is no better gift than smartphones. We are expecting good numbers.”

But whether any one of the new devices can knock the iPhone 5S off the top spot remains to be seen.

“I don’t think there will be much change in ranking due to new models recently launched, at least not in the short term,” said Nabila Popal, a research manager at IDC.

According to the report, the iPhone 5 was the second most popular smartphone with 2.6 per cent of the market share. The third most commonly used was the Samsung S III with 2.6 per cent, followed by the iPhone 4S with 1.9 per cent.

Nokia still dominates the overall mobile landscape, with its handsets accounting for 46 per cent of all devices in use.

The TRA's report also revealed that UAE smartphone and fixed internet users made 35 billion visits to social networking websites from April to June this year. Facebook accounted for 86 per cent of those visits, followed by Twitter with 11 per cent.

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