Ports and free zones
Hamriyah Free Zone, established in 1995, has a 14 m deep port, and Sharjah is the only emirate with ports on both the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman coasts. Classified areas are spread across many small tenants.
Sharjah's hydrocarbon work is run by Sharjah National Oil Corporation (SNOC), whose midstream operations include the Sajaa gas processing plant, export and import terminals and a pipeline network. The E11 Al Ittihad Road and the E611 Emirates Road connect Sharjah to Dubai, and Emirates Road also reaches Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah. An intrinsically safe mobile phone distributor in Sharjah would carry the IS-04Z1 to these buyers once certification completes.
Pre-launch · certification in progress · Launching Q4 2026
Short answer. Sharjah has no appointed SAMS distributor yet: the IS-04Z1 is pre-launch (certification in progress, no certificate issued, launch planned for Q4 2026), and distributor applications are open.
Status: pre-launch. IECEx, ATEX, UKEX and NEC 500 certification is in progress and no certificate has been issued; launch is planned for Q4 2026. An operator's own vendor approval is a separate step. Certification status. Place facts reviewed October 2026.
| Check | What to look for | IS-04Z1 today |
|---|---|---|
| Level of protection | ia, ib or ic matched to the zone | ib, for Zone 1 |
| Entity parameters | Uo, Io and Po within the device limits | Published with the certificate |
| Accessories | Chargers and cases certified with the device | Defined at certification |
| Where it applies | Sharjah: Marine terminals, Port fuel handling, Gas processing plant | Classified by the site operator |

An intrinsically safe Android smartphone designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21 hazardous areas in Sharjah. It is pre-launch: IECEx, ATEX and NEC 500 certification is in progress ahead of the Q4 2026 launch.
Who operates there and which kinds of classified area a handset would meet, from the SAMS site research.
Hamriyah Free Zone, established in 1995, has a 14 m deep port, and Sharjah is the only emirate with ports on both the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman coasts. Classified areas are spread across many small tenants.
Hot, humid climate with high summer temperatures.
The city is a centre for industry and contributes about 7.4 per cent of the UAE's GDP, so industrial sites are numerous and varied.
Sharjah city covers about 235 square km with more than 1.8 million residents, and it is the third most populous city in the UAE.
The emirate has three major seaports, Port Khalid, Hamriyah Port and Khorfakkan Port, the last on the Gulf of Oman coast.
On 1 January 2022 Sharjah's public sector adopted a four-day working week with a three-day weekend, a first in the Gulf, so timing for government approvals and meetings needs to be checked.
Intrinsic safety limits the electrical and thermal energy in a circuit so that neither a spark nor a hot surface can ignite a gas or dust atmosphere, even when a fault occurs. The ib level, used for Zone 1, tolerates one fault. It is the usual way to make a handheld device that a worker carries continuously through a hazardous area.
The IS-04Z1 is designed on this principle for Zone 1 and Zone 21 (marking target II 2 G Ex ib IIC T4). Intrinsic safety is a design basis, not a certificate: certification is in progress and none has been issued yet.
In Sharjah. Rounds at a gas plant cover processing units, pipelines, storage and condensate handling. A handheld intrinsically safe device lets operators log readings and photograph equipment in classified areas as they walk, and would also suit smaller free-zone sites with a few classified spots. The IS-04Z1 is designed for this.
SAMS is appointing authorised distributors ahead of the Q4 2026 launch. No territory has been granted for Sharjah yet and applications are reviewed company by company. Because a certified Ex device cannot be opened by an ordinary phone workshop without invalidating its certificate, SAMS looks for partners who can provide competent technical support and after-sales service locally.
No. Nothing can be bought or taken into a classified area today: certification is in progress and launch is planned for Q4 2026. What is available now is the datasheet, the written certification schedule and evaluation units for safe-area use.
No price is published. While certification is in progress there is no list price and no committed lead time, and a supplier quoting a firm figure for an uncertified Ex handset is promising something it cannot stand behind. Indicative pre-launch pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
The circuits are designed to limit energy so a spark or hot surface cannot ignite a gas or dust atmosphere, even with one fault (level ib, Zone 1). Certification of that design is in progress.
Likely candidates are gas processing plant, gas and condensate pipelines and storage, marine terminals, port fuel handling. Which areas are classified, and to what zone, is set by the site operator's own area classification drawings.
Apply through the distributor page with your company details and the territory you cover. SAMS reviews applications company by company and has not yet granted a territory for Sharjah.
Port Khalid and Hamriyah Port on the Gulf and Khorfakkan Port on the Gulf of Oman coast. Gulftainer runs several container and dry-port facilities, so choose the port by cargo type and destination, and confirm customs and import-permit needs with your freight forwarder.
No. Type approval is federal, issued by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, so one certificate covers the UAE. Certificates are typically renewed every three years. Individual sites may add their own device rules for hazardous areas; confirm them with the operator.
Sharjah has a hot, humid climate with high summer temperatures. The IS-04Z1 has a 4,000 mAh battery and IP68 rating, but no heat limits are published here. Ask for the datasheet, and confirm with the operator whether outdoor rounds in summer are planned.
More on Sharjah, and on other places in United Arab Emirates.
Tell us what you need to equip and where. The SAMS team answers by email with the datasheet and where each certification route stands.
Send the zone and gas group of your site and we will reply with the datasheet and schedule.