Emir BardakçıAccording to new data from Omdia, the Middle East smartphone market excluding Turkey saw a strong rebound in Q3 2025. Driven by growing demand for mid-range 4G and affordable 5G phones, shipments grew by 23% year-on-year, reaching 15.1 million units. Brands expand their presence in emerging markets by introducing competitively priced devices-a theme also explored in our Xiaomi Market Insights and Xiaomi Global Expansion reports. This growth indicates that the market is becoming extremely dynamic with a high level of focus on performance-to-price efficiency.
Market Growth Driven by Mid-Range and Affordable 5G Demand
The latest Omdia analysis indicates that consumers are upgrading from older devices to mid-range models offering improved performance and better connectivity. This trend is being supported by the strengthening of their cost-effective product lineups by manufacturers, ensuring users have access to capable smartphones without premium-tier prices. Affordable 4G models are still contributing a significant portion of the total shipments due to their accessibility and reliability.
Vendor Performance in Q3 2025
Each of the major vendors posted positive year-on-year growth, with several brands enjoying particularly good momentum throughout the region. Their performance underlines the competitive nature of the Middle Eastern smartphone landscape.
- Samsung shipped 5.2 million units, taking up a 34% market share and seeing a 22% YoY increase.
- Transsion reached 2.7 million units with an 18% share, growing 47% YoY.
- Xiaomi shipped 2.3 million units, taking 15% market share and recording an impressive 35% YoY growth.
- Honor reached 1.6 million units with a 10% share and an astonishing 128% YoY growth.
- Apple shipped 1.4 million units, holding a 9% share with 14% YoY growth.
Xiaomi Logs Strong Performance in the Middle East
Xiaomi’s annual increase of 35% points to the company’s continued push toward offering reliable mid-range and entry-level devices targeted at emerging markets. The brand remains committed to growing its ecosystem while ensuring affordable pricing; meanwhile, it offers recent design developments, power-efficient chipsets, and extended software support. The presence of Xiaomi is further strengthened by the increasing adoption of affordable 5G models, aligning with broader regional consumer demand.
With the current shipment momentum, analysts anticipate further mass-market smartphone adoption. Manufacturers are expected to keep investing in cost-efficient platforms and wider 5G accessibility. These developments hint at continued stability of the uptrend for brands with strong value-driven portfolios, a category in which Xiaomi is well-positioned to benefit from the region’s next wave of upgrades.
