More than 77.8 per cent of all handsets registered on the UAE’s networks during the second quarter (Q2) of the year were smartphones, according to data released by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

The TRA has revealed statistics for Q2 2016 on the nation’s most popular mobile phone handsets, social networking platforms and applications websites. Investigating the current state of the market, the TRA’s report reveals the market share of mobile phones in the UAE by manufacturer and model.

The TRA’s report also shows that one-third of all handsets registered on UAE networks during Q2 were manufactured by Samsung.  The top four brands were Samsung (33.3 per cent of all handsets registered), Nokia (27 per cent), Apple (13.6 per cent); and BlackBerry (1.8 per cent).

The top five handsets in use in the UAE during Q2-2016 were Apple iPhone 6 (penetration of 4.17 per cent), Nokia 108 (penetration of 2.99 per cent), Samsung Galaxy J100H/J1 (penetration of 2.45 per cent), Apple iPhone 6S (penetration of 2.32 per cent) and Apple iPhone 5S (penetration of 2.29 per cent).

During Q2, users of smartphones and fixed Internet services in the UAE visited various applications websites. Samsung Apps Store was by far the most visited applications website, followed by Apple iTunes, and finally Android Applications.

In terms of social media, UAE Smartphone and fixed Internet users made 24 billion visits to social networking websites during the period. Visits to Facebook accounted for 90.39 per cent of total visits to social networking sites, followed by Twitter with 5.18 per cent of visits, then LinkedIn, MySpace and Maktoob. – TradeArabia News Service