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Dubai - Whether it's on the bus, in the office during lunch break, or at home with friends, gamers in the UAE want to play their favourite games

The continuing popularity of mobile gaming in the UAE has meant that users are almost always on the lookout for an opportunity to upgrade their devices.
Whether it's on the bus, in the office during lunch break, or at home with friends, gamers in the UAE want to play their favourite games, and they are increasingly doing so on their smartphones.
The Middle East & Africa (MEA) region has one of the fastest growing gaming regions in the world, with a 26.2 per cent year-on-year growth in 2016, a report by newzoo has found. The region is currently home to more than 300 million gamers, who were estimated to have spent a total of $3.2 billion in 2016. The report also noted that, in line with global trends, the mobile gaming segment will remain the largest category, with year-on-year revenue growth rates between 30-60 per cent in the coming years.
Many mobile gamers however, have run into a small snag; mobile games have grown tremendously in size. Today, the average iOS mobile game is 67.7MB in size, while the average file size of an Android game stands at roughly 58 MB. This is not very surprising since the most popular mobile apps tend to offer a rich gaming experience. According to appfigures, 19 per cent of the top 100 iOS games are over 100 MB. When it comes to Android, only four per cent of the top 100 free Android games are over 100 MB.
While many gamers might feel that they need to purchase an expensive high-end smartphone to download and smoothly run such feature-rich games, experts at Gitex Shopper 2017 say that there are several smartphones in the market that won't put a strain on your wallet.
The new Nokia 8, with its 1.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, is a current favourite at the exhibition. The phone comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 256GB via a microSD card. The phone also boasts a 5.30-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1440 pixels by 2560 pixels at a PPI of 554 pixels per inch. Available at the Jumbo stand for Dh1,699, the phone promises a rich immersive gaming experience.
Another option that won't put a dent in your expenses, comes in the form of the Huawei Nova 2 Plus. Currently for sale at the Sharaf DG stand for Dh1,299, the phone is powered by 2.3GHz octa-core Kirin 659 processor and it comes with 4GB of RAM. The phone packs 128GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card.
Atif Nadeem, a sales executive at Sharaf DG, noted that Huawei phones have been a popular choice among shoppers at the exhibition.
"We have had quite a few customers come in and buy them," he said. "Usually, customers look for a good camera and price, but we have had several customers purchase them because they are interested in mobile games as well."
Yet another popular choice among gamers is the HTC U Ultra. A poster child for the 'play longer on a bigger screen' saying, the phone features a 5.7-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1440 pixels by 2560 pixels. Powered by 2.15GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, the phone comes with 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage.
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com