In the MEA region, South Africa experienced the biggest decline in shipments of personal computing devices year-on-year during the first quarter.

A total of 5.3 million units were shipped across the region in Q3 2019, indicating an increase of 5.5% in Q3 2018, says IDC.

More regulations and higher customer expectations have caused more companies to further invest in security, says John McLoughlin, security expert and CEO of J2 Software.

Spending will rise as companies seek to navigate challenges, compete at hyperscale, and meet rising customer expectations, says IDC.

IDC’s forecast comes as analysts predict huge spend by companies as they are missing several layers in their IOT solutions.

Two of the most important tools to implement are customer relationship management and enterprise resource management, says Microsoft.

Banking, discrete manufacturing, telecommunications and professional services will be the four largest industries for ICT spending in 2018.

The IDC expects industries to continue investing in public cloud services, with forecasts showing the market will reach the $160 billion mark this year.

The Chinese smartphone maker looks to top its annual revenue target by as much as 18%, sources say.

Smartphone shipments reached 21.7 million units, spurred by ongoing economic recoveries in some of Africa's major markets, says IDC.

Although the global tablet market decline slowed in Q2, the downward spiral continued.

While smartphone sales in Africa are showing signs of slowing, cheaper basic feature phone sales are growing.