Dubai – Newly released data from IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that shipments of mobile phones to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region grew 5.3% quarter on quarter (QoQ) in Q4 2022 to total 5.51 million units. Smartphone shipments were up 5.4% QoQ to 5 million units, while feature phone shipments grew 4.9% over the same period to 0.51 million units. In terms of value, the GCC smartphone market was worth $2.05 billion in Q4 2022, an increase of 6.0% QoQ, while the feature phone market totaled $8.64 million, up 2.6%.

Consumer spending faced inflationary pressures throughout much of 2022, and smartphone brands had to contend with challenging supply shortages. However, the supply issues began to improve in the final quarter of the year, with strong shipments of devices from the ultra-low-end price band (