The easing of supply disruptions helps the Middle East and Africa wearables market to rebound in Q3 2020, recording a year-on-year unit growth of 15.8%.

Smartphone shipments to SA suffered a double-digit decline during the third quarter of this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic eroded economic gains, says IDC.

The Europe, Middle East and Africa tablet market grew 24% year-on-year, its strongest performance since 2013, says IDC.

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.