“The Future of Smartphone Sales in the Middle East: Apple and Samsung Lead the Market Despite Challenges”

Phone sales witnessed exceptional growth in the years before 2020, as smartphone shipments increased worldwide from 173 million phones in 2009, to 1.56 billion phones in 2018.

However, smartphone sales began to decline with the emergence of the Covid-19 virus at the end of 2019, and this decline will continue until 2022, during which phone shipments in the world recorded a 12 percent decrease, to 1.2 billion phones.

It seems that the downward path of phone sales will continue in 2023, as the data showed a decline in smartphone shipments around the world by more than 13 percent, to about 268 million smartphones during the first 3 months of 2023.

The markets of the Middle East region were not far from the decline in the global phone industry, as data from the market research company “Canalys” showed that smartphone shipments in the region, excluding Turkey, declined by 3.5 percent, to reach 8.8 million smartphones during the first quarter of 2018. 2023, ending this decline in a 9-month growth streak in the phone industry in the Middle East.

iPhone in growth

Also, according to Canalys, the Korean Samsung was the company that achieved the most sales in the Middle East during the first quarter of 2023, with a number of shipments of 3.8 million smartphones, which allowed it to control a share of 43 percent of the market, but it recorded a decline of 5.3 percent on an annual level. .

In second place was the American company Apple, which was able to ship 1.3 million iPhones to the region, controlling a 15 percent share of the market, during the first three months of 2023, thus enabling the iPhone maker to achieve an annual growth rate of 35.4 percent.

In third place was the Chinese company, Xiaomi, which shipped one million smartphones to the region with a market share of 11 percent, achieving a growth rate of 1.6 percent.
Transition ranked fourth, with 900,000 smartphones shipped to the Middle East, with a market share of nearly 11 percent, recording a 35 percent decline year-on-year, followed by OPPO in fifth place with a market share of 4 percent, down by 31.9 percent. During the first quarter of 2023, it shipped about 300,000 phones during that period.

Control over the elements of power

Communications engineer Issa Saad El-Din said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia Economy” that Samsung’s control over smartphone sales in the Middle East is understandable and depends on multiple elements of strength. Consumers in the region trust this brand, which has become over the years. Part of their daily lives, pointing out that the Korean company is targeting all categories of users through its smart phones, as it has cheap, medium and high-priced phones, and this is precisely what helps it to extend its control over the regional market and even the global market.

Saad El-Din adds that in light of the bad global economic situation and the change in the priority of many consumers, the decline in the overall phone market and Samsung in particular is justified, as many people preferred to keep their old phones and postpone the process of moving to a newer version, pointing out that the incomprehensible thing is What happened with Apple, despite the economic challenges facing consumer spending in the world and the region, its phone sales recorded growth, bearing in mind that the iPhone phones that it launched in 2022 are considered high in price and did not offer anything new in terms of features.

According to Saad El-Din, while the smart phone industry is preparing for what is said to be a difficult economic year in 2023, it seems that this rule does not apply to the iPhone, as the increase in sales of Apple phones does not only include the Middle East region, but the whole world.

The results of the American company’s business showed that revenues from iPhone sales during the first three months of 2023 increased by 2 percent to $ 51.3 billion, indicating that there are many users in the world, especially in the Middle East, who have moved from the category of cheap and medium phones to the leading category. And the high price of iPhone.

Saad El-Din believes that the iPhone has succeeded in establishing a new standard in the world of smart phones, as the price of the phone is high and the design is refined, yet sales were not affected, so the durability of the iPhone brand, in addition to the seamless integration it provides, with many services and products provided by Apple. Like the Apple Watch and AirPods. And many others, that would make iPhone purchases very popular among teenagers and adults, pointing out that Apple has already succeeded in its unannounced marketing plan that aims to make users feel that their mere acquisition of an iPhone gives them added value.

Apple and Samsung in the lead and other companies are expanding

Saad El-Din pointed out that the future of smartphone sales in the Middle East region is still hazy in the face of adverse economic winds, stressing that despite the expected difficulties, the long-term potential of the smartphone market in the region is strong, expecting Samsung to maintain its market leadership. For a long time, Apple will seize the share of the Korean company successively, while brands such as Tecno and Infinix will be able to And Xiaomi and OPPO, from consolidating their presence in the segment of medium and low-spec phones.