Dubai – Mubasher: Mobile shops shipments to the GCC declined 9.4% year-on-year to 23.6 million units in 2018, recording its lowest level since in six years, with no major recovery expected in 2019.

The amount of mobile shipped to the region last year went down 2.2% quarter-on-quarter to 5.8 million, according to data released by the International Data Corporation (IDC).

"This decline is being caused by a number of factors, including economic uncertainty, a lack of major innovation in new devices, continuous price increases, and lengthening refresh cycles,” research analyst at IDC Kafil Merchant said.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest market in the GCC, registered a 2.3% quarter-on-quarter and 8.2% year on year decrease in mobile shipment during Q4-18.

Senior research manager at IDC, Nabila Popal, said: "Growth continues to evade the Saudi market after the major double-digit declines that have characterized the last few years.”

Mobile shipment in the UAE, Oman, and Kuwait levelled down 2.4%, 5.4%, and 8.6% quarter-on-quarter, respectively, in the last quarter of 2018, IDC revealed.

Meanwhile, Bahrain and Qatar reported a 2.1% and 7.6% growth, respectively, from October to December.