Locally Made Mobile Phones Surge to 12 Million in 2025 as Imports Drop Sharply

Pakistan’s mobile phone industry continues to see a major shift toward local manufacturing as imports decline both in volume and value. During the first five months of calendar year 2025 (January–May), local manufacturing and assembling plants produced 12.05 million mobile handsets, while only 0.76 million units were imported commercially. The local output included 6.53 million 2G phones and 5.52 million smartphones.

This follows the previous year’s trend where 31.38 million mobile phones were manufactured or assembled locally in 2024, in sharp contrast to 1.71 million units imported during the same period.

According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data, 67% of mobile devices currently operating on Pakistani networks are smartphones, while 33% are 2G feature phones.

In terms of trade value, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $1.356 billion during the first eleven months (July–May) of the fiscal year 2024–25, marking a 16.31% decline compared to $1.620 billion in the same period of 2023–24. In local currency, the value dropped 17.44%, from Rs 458.124 billion to Rs 378.248 billion year-over-year.

Interestingly, total mobile phone imports for the full fiscal year 2023–24 stood at $1.898 billion, a significant jump from $570.071 million in 2022–23, highlighting a rebound in import activity post-COVID-related restrictions, though recent months show a downturn.

On a month-on-month basis, May 2025 imports totaled $101.131 million, down 19.16% from $125.103 million in April 2025. Compared to May 2024, this represents a sharp 35.83% year-on-year decline, indicating a strong push towards domestic production and possibly reduced demand.

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Pakistan Assembles 7.21 Million Mobile Phones in Q1 2025