The Middle East and Africa (MEA) handset market grew to its largest size in 10 quarters in the second quarter of 2014, expanding 27 per cent year on year to total 64 million units. According to latest figures from IDC, the majority of this growth was seen in the smartphone category, with a major shift underway in the composition of the market. Indeed, smartphones' share of the overall MEA handset market jumped 13 percentage points year on year to reach 40 per cent in Q2 2014, with that figure reaching as high as 75–80 per cent in some of the region's more developed countries. Within Africa, Egypt and South Africa posted the largest year-on-year handset shipment growth, at 37 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. In the Middle East, the UAE and Qatar saw the strongest growth, with respective growth of 27 per cent and 32 per cent. Report