Middle East still a major force in luxury mobile phone business

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02 Oct 2013

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Dubai: The Middle East always represents a big portion of global luxury mobile phone business as the billionaire population grows every year, Serge Simon, general manager of Atelier Haute Communication Limited, a mobile phone division of Tag Heuer, told Gulf News.

He said the region contributes about 15 to 20 per cent to the total global luxury mobile phone sales.

The high spending tourists from Russia and China are the biggest contributors. Luxury category is timeless but mobile phone is not because of the fast changing technology.

“Luxury mobile phone is a niche market. There are people who want to differentiate from the crowd. Mobile phone is more personal than before,” he said.

Simon said that Tag Heuer always launches its products first in Dubai and then roll out in other markets. So this shows how important “Dubai is to the luxury market.”

There is no big competition in the luxury mobile phones category as there are a very few players.

“The biggest player is Vertu followed by Tag Heuer with around 20 per cent market share. The total luxury phone market is less than one per cent to the total mobile phone market,” he said.

Last year, 100,000 luxury phones were sold globally, of which 20,000 phones came from the Middle East.

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Middle East still a major force in luxury mobile phone business

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