(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Iphone 5 most commonly-used smartphone; android popularity gains and facebook holds social media fort in q1
smartphones continue to dominate in the uae’s growing telecom market as they are accounted for 52 per cent of the total handsets registered on the emirate’s network during first quarter of 2014 according to latest data released by the telecom regulatory authority (tra).
the telecom regulator’s latest statistics revealed that smartphones which recorded 10 per cent growth in 2013 further strengthened their position in first quarter of 2014 by posting a nominal one per cent edge over the basic phones indicating an obvious trend that will gain momentum in coming months with the launch of more entry-level smartphones in the market.
in terms of smartphone models the tra report said iphone 5 was the most commonly used smartphone in the uae comprising 2.8 per cent of the total handsets registered on uae networks. the samsung slll sustained its position as the second most popular smartphone with 2.7 per cent of the market share followed by the iphone 5s (2.5 per cent) iphone 4s (2.1 per cent) galaxy s duos (1.8 per cent) samsung s4 lte (1.7 per cent) iphone 4 (1.6 per cent) blackberry bold 9900 (1.4 per cent) samsung grand (one per cent); samsung s4 (0.9 per cent); and samsung note 3 (0.8 per cent).
in relation to smartphones the iphone 5s reordered the highest increase in market share during the first quarter of 2014 replacing the iphone 4s as the third most popular handset. the market shares of galaxy s duos and samsung s4 let also increased whereas the iphone 4s and blackberry bold 9900 fell.
“the report illustrates a number of interesting trends emerging in the uae’s mobile handset market. it also demonstrates the dynamic nature of consumer patterns in relation to handset choices” mohamed nasser al ghanim director-general of tra said.
nokia still leads
the report also indicates that 50.2 per cent of all handsets registered on uae networks were manufactured by nokia although this figure has been declining over a period of time. this was followed by samsung (19.3 per cent) apple (9.1 per cent) blackberry (8.2 per cent) lg (0.9 per cent) and htc (0.7 per cent).
unlike nokia and blackberry samsung and apple recorded increases in their market shares in first quarter of 2014. however during the quarter apple handsets replaced blackberry as being the third most popular mobile handsets used in uae.
in terms of specific handset models the nokia 101/1010 (3.6 per cent) continued to be the most popular mobile handset in uae during january-march 2014 period. the nokia 1280/1282 (three per cent) was the second most popular handset followed by the iphone 5 (2.8 per cent) both nokia e5 and samsung siii at (2.7 per cent) iphone 5s (2.5 per cent) nokia x1 (2.3 per cent) iphone 4s (2.1 per cent) galaxy s duos (1.8 per cent) samsung s4 lte (1.7 per cent) iphone 4 (1.6 per cent) blackberry bold 9900 (1.4 per cent) samsung grand (one per cent) samsung s4 (0.9 per cent) and samsung note 3 (0.8 per cent).
“the findings derived from the tra’s latest piece of research reinforce the vibrancy of the uae’s mobile sector. the tra is committed to producing research that accurately depicts the current state of the market which in turn enables the uae to track its progress and remain ahead of the global mobile industry curve.” al ghanim said.
androis facebook on top
the report also provides information on the most popular mobile operating systems used in the uae and noted that the use of symbian is declining over time and the android was the most commonly used operating system in the uae during january-march 2014 quarter.
“the market share of ios is increasing while rims (the operating system for blackberry) is decreasing” the report said.
about the various application websites’ visits during the first quarter the tra report observed that apple itunes was by far the most commonly visited applications website followed by samsung apps blackberry app world and nokia ovi.
“the number of visits to blackberry and nokia applications websites has been declining over a period of time while the volume of visits to apple itunes and samsung is progressively increasing” the report said.
in terms of social media uae smartphone and fixed internet users made a total of 21.7 billion visits to social networking websites during the first quarter of 2014.
“visits to facebook accounted for 86 per cent of total visits to social networking sites followed by twitter with 12 per cent of visits then linkedin maktoob and myspace” the report concluded.
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