News

Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

Egypt’s telecom regulator says $57.6 billion moved through more than 57 million wallets in six months. And one operator handled 77% of the value.

Published

4 days ago

September 12, 2026

Nour Nasir

egypt's mobile wallets are booming but cash still has power

Egypt’s mobile wallets handled EGP 2.96 trillion ($57.6 billion) in transactions in the first half of 2026, according to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority – a 56% rise on the EGP 1.90 trillion ($36.9 billion) recorded a year earlier. Transactions grew faster still, up 62% to 2.22 billion, while registered wallets climbed 23% to 57.01 million.

On one reading, that is exactly what Egypt’s regulators have been pushing for: a payments system that runs through telecom-linked wallets rather than banknotes. But the same data shows how far cash still reaches into it. Cash withdrawals made up just 12% of the transactions taking money out of wallets, yet 75% of the value withdrawn or spent.

Money arrives mostly from bank accounts: transfers through InstaPay accounted for 78% of deposit transactions and 58% of the value deposited, while incoming remittances from abroad made up 3% of deposit transactions but 10% of their value. Once inside, it largely moves between wallets – wallet-to-wallet transfers accounted for 54% of all transactions and 67% of total value, with mobile and internet top-ups a distant second at 25% of volume. In effect, the wallet is serving as a transfer layer: the place money passes through between the bank account and the banknote.

That layer also runs predominantly through one operator. Vodafone Cash held 53% of registered wallets and 57% of active ones, but handled 69% of transactions and 77% of their value. Its nearest rival, e& money, held 23% of registered wallets but 14% of transaction value; Orange Cash 20% and 8%; WE Pay 4% of wallets. How many of the 57.01 million are active is not stated.

Also Read: Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Adoption is rather uneven in other respects. Men held 38 million wallets, or 67% of the total, against 19 million held by women. Users aged 26 to 45 accounted for half of all wallets, and Cairo alone had 10.6 million, or 19% of the national total, with Giza next at 6.5 million.

The NTRA says it is continuing to work with telecom operators on the regulatory framework for wallet services, part of a wider effort to expand electronic payments and financial inclusion. Its own figures show that effort succeeding on the way in. On the way out, three-quarters of the value still leaves as cash.

News

Apple’s First Folding iPhone Arrives Late To A Shrinking Market

Apple’s foldable costs $1,999 and skips both Face ID and a telephoto lens. Almost 33% of consumers told IDC they would “absolutely” buy one.

Published

6 days ago

September 10, 2026

Nour Nasir

Apple

Samsung released the first Galaxy Fold in 2019. Honor, Google, Motorola and Oppo followed, and the designs have grown slimmer, lighter and more durable. Seven years on, Apple has joined them with its first folding phone, the iPhone Duo, unveiled at the company’s annual September event – and it arrives as the category shrinks rather than grows.

The Duo costs $1,999 (AED 8,499 in the UAE) for 256GB of storage, with preorders opening on October 16 and sales starting on October 23. It launches alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max but, for the first time, without a base model: the iPhone 18 is now expected in spring 2027.

Closed, it has a 5.4-inch screen. Unfolded, it offers a 7.6-inch display close to the iPad Mini’s and is, Apple says, the thinnest iPhone ever. The frame is titanium, the front is Ceramic Shield 2 glass, and it carries an IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating that, until now, only Google’s folding Pixels could claim.

There are trade-offs: Face ID is missing; Touch ID sits in the side power button instead. The two 48-megapixel rear cameras also come without a telephoto lens. However, the battery is the biggest Apple has ever put in an iPhone, rated for up to 24 hours of mixed use.

According to Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, the foldable category has declined for five straight quarters, by 13% year over year, and will account for around 2% of the global smartphone market by the end of this year. Apple, she says, could capture up to 30% of the foldable market by the end of 2026. In a recent IDC survey, 60% of consumers said they were not likely to buy a foldable at their next upgrade; asked whether they would if Apple released one, almost 33% said they “absolutely” would.

Also Read: Qatar Airways Flies The World’s First Starlink-Equipped 787-9

“Apple has such a strong market pull,” Popal told journalists. “Coming into foldables, it’s going to create overall excitement for the category. And it’s good for the consumer too”.

She calls the Duo “guaranteed to be a blockbuster” despite the price. “Yes, there’s going to be sticker shock, but Apple caters to a very high-end consumer segment who can afford it,” she says.

Folding phones remain notoriously prone to damage and difficult to fix. Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, told reporters her team has never taken apart one it would call truly repairable.

“Manufacturers have come a long way since the Galaxy Fold first dropped,” she says. “But the gains in durability haven’t come with gains in repairability”.