Special Features
UAE No.1 in Global Smartphone Penetration Index
The overall mobile market in the region is changing rapidly. The time is quickly approaching when every person on the planet will be connected using smartphones and with prices falling, many consumers are already deciding to adopt a smart device instead of a feature phone. The recent research conducted by Google, which ranked the UAE no.1 in global smartphone penetration with 73.8% of mobile consumers carrying smartphones, is testament to this.Despite India and China traditionally being considered as the markets with the highest potential for the smartphone market, it is becoming apparent that consumers in the UAE are responding well to the introduction of connected smart hand held devices available at affordable prices and a better developed infrastructure.
The UAE is continuing to emerge as one of the most attractive retail destinations worldwide based upon its foundations of strong economy, a growing middle class, surging consumer confidence in technology and increasing domestic consumption.
Recently, the smartphone market in the UAE has seen device prices fall, a greater variety of choice of smartphone models available and the introduction of faster and more reliable wireless networks in addition to affordable and attractive data plans by operators across the country. These three factors have had a measureable impact on consumers that view feature packed connected devices as the most attractive option.
For smartphone’s specifically, we also see more LTE and NFC enabled devices being launched as consumers demand connected devices that can operate and faster speeds and that can perform payment services. NFC is a service that Samsung believes is going to start becoming more popular in this region as consumers begin to follow global mobility trends, such as having one device that can perform multiple services, including secured payments.
As a result of all these market changes, we expect to see more categories being created within the mobile segment. In line with these foresights, Samsung’s strategy for 2013/2014 is to cater to a diverse audience by providing them products that suit their unique needs. Within our telecommunications division for example, we offer a wide range of hand held products such as feature phones, dual-SIM phones and mid-high range smartphones.
Behind the sharp increase in consumer demand for smartphones and at the forefront of market changes, are the newly launched Samsung GALAXY S4 Zoom and the GALAXY S4, the latter of which sold more than 10 million devices globally.
