Smartphone sales in MENA to rise marginally in 2019: Gartner

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) will see a marginal increase in smartphone sales in 2019, as global sales are set to decline year-on-year (YoY), Gartner said in a recent report.

Sales in the MENA region will reach 76.33 million units 2019-end, recording a nearly one percent increase, while global sales will touch 1.5 billion units, a 2.5 percent decline YoY, it noted.

Smartphone sales are estimated to rise by nearly 3 percent to 77.86 million units in 2020 compared with 75.60 million units in 2018. 

However, the consultancy expects smartphone sales to grow again in 2020, driven by broader availability of 5G models and the promotion of 5G service packages in various parts of the world by communications service providers. Analysts expect the first 5G Apple iPhone to launch in 2020, which should encourage iPhone users to upgrade.

“Lengthening smartphone replacement cycles and a ban on Huawei accessing technology from US-based suppliers weakened demand for smartphones in the first half of 2019,” said Annette Zimmermann, research vice-president at Gartner. 

“We expect demand to get even weaker in the second half as replacement of high-, low- and mid-end smartphones continues to slow, due to low value benefits.”

Gartner estimates that sales of 5G smartphones will top 15 million units in 2019, which will represent less than one percent of total smartphone sales in the year.

“Although leading mobile manufacturers have started positioning their first 5G smartphones (such as the LG V50 ThinQ, OPPO Reno 5G, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 5G), and CSPs have started to offer some aggressively priced 5G service packages, 5G smartphone sales are set to remain small in 2019. Sales will start to ramp up in the second half of 2020 as the coverage and availability of 5G hardware services improve,” said Zimmermann.

Meanwhile, Japan, Western Europe and North America are set to register the worst declines in sales of smartphones this year.

“In mature markets, the high-end smartphone market is particularly oversupplied and commoditized, with higher average selling prices (ASPs) and no compelling new utility or experiences for users to upgrade to. Despite ASP increases on high-end smartphones slowing down recently, the vendors who primarily rely on replacement smartphone sales continue to face tough times,” said Roberta Cozza, senior research director at Gartner.