Local smartphone output falls to 628,030 units as used imports pass 105,000
Used phones made up nearly 82 percent of fully built smartphone imports in September, and manufacturers warn that factories could close if local assembly stops paying.
Pakistan's local smartphone production fell to 628,030 units in September, while imports of used handsets reached 105,121, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority data. Industry representatives say monthly smartphone output had previously held around 1.1 million to 1.2 million units. Measured against the lower end of that range, which is an industry claim, September is roughly 43 percent down.
The used phones were valued at about $14.03 million. New fully built smartphones came in at 23,616 units worth about $19.40 million. Together, fully built imports reached 128,737 units and $33.43 million, and used devices made up nearly 82 percent of the units.
Imports gain on local plants
Fully built imports equalled about 20.5 percent of local smartphone output in the month, and about 17 percent of all smartphones, local and imported. Feature phones told a different story. Local factories made around 1.053 million of them in September, and output of the cheaper handsets stayed relatively stable.
Aamir Allahwala, senior vice president of the Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturers Association, said imports of fully built and used phones were rising while local production was falling. He warned that factories could close if local manufacturing becomes commercially unsustainable, and that jobs in the sector would be at risk.
Manufacturers point to higher taxes on smartphones, weaker consumer purchasing power and a shift in demand toward imported second hand devices. Industry sources also say heavy reliance on imports adds pressure on foreign exchange reserves. Industry stakeholders have urged the government to review mobile phone taxation and the import framework.
A slide that began earlier
The September figures extend a pattern from earlier in the year. Between January and August, local plants assembled 18.66 million handsets against 2.74 million commercial imports, so local assembly still made up about 87 percent of the total. But the monthly average for local output slipped about 7 percent from 2025, from roughly 2.52 million to 2.33 million, while commercial imports averaged about 340,000 a month, up from about 200,000.
What gets made is also weighted toward the low end. Of the 18.66 million handsets assembled in the first eight months, about 8 million were smartphones and about 11 million were basic 2G phones. In August, assembly of 5G enabled handsets was 134,501, down from 553,079 a year earlier.
