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Lava unveils new range as Mena smartphone sales hit $42.2b

Lava International, a manufacturer of one of the world's fastest-growing smartphone brands, said the UAE - where the mobile phone subscription base has grown at the fastest rate to reach 17.94 million in 2016, would be its springboard to reach across to new markets in the Middle East.
Mohammed Khizar Ulla, Head of Business - Middle East at Lava International DMCC, said the UAE residents spent 31.49 billion minutes using mobile phones in 2015, up from 28.70 billion minutes in 2014. They spent 61 per cent or 19.2 billion minutes of the mobile phone usage in domestic mobile-to-mobile conversation while they spent 11.15 billion minutes in international calls.
Smart phone market in the UAE is growing in tandem with the phenomenal growth in mobile penetration rate that jumped to 209.8 per cent in 2015, compared to 199.3 per cent in 2014, Ulla  said quoting TRA's latest report.
Announcing the launch of Lava A3 mobile phone at a press conference on Thursday, Ulla said although smartphone sales growth rate is slowing down worldwide, the Middle East and North Africa region is witnessing an increase in sales volume in sales. "Smartphone shipment into the Mena region is estimated to have reached 171.2 million in 2016, up from 157.5 million, according to Statista.com - a global portal of statistics that collects information from 18,000 sources."
Smartphone sales value in the region is estimated to have grown to $42.2 billion in 2016, up from $40.4 in 2015 in the Mena region, he said.
Ulla said consumers would be looking at faster, cost-effective, dual sim, dual camera smartphones that comes at an affordable price. "This is where Lava A3 phones will be high in demand as it is in line with the market trend and demand. Today, we are happy to announce that Lava has become the fastest growing smartphone brand in the world," he said.
In the GCC, the brand's sales have grown 340 per cent in the last three quarters of 2016 year on year, he said.
"As the world heralds in the new year, Lava brings one of the best smartphones with advanced features for the young and trendy consumers who needs a better work-life smartphone partner while on the move and A3 is the new partner for the global consumers," said Manish Pravinkumar, senior business manager at Jumbo Electronics, the general sales agent for the brand. 
The new A3 range, with a price tag of Dh799 and featuring dual SIM, dual camera, comes a few weeks after the Lava launched Metal 24 smartphone.   Lava, a joint venture of Indian and Chinese partners, plans to manufacture 216 million handsets per annum in the next 5-8 years.
issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com