Pakistan Mobile Phone Imports Jump 29.6% to $1.3 Billion in 8 Months – But Local Manufacturing Is Winning

By Omar Shahid, Tech & Mobiles Writer — March 15, 2026

Pakistan's appetite for mobile phones is growing fast. The country imported mobile phones worth $1.295 billion between July and February of fiscal year 2025–26 — a jump of approximately 29.6 percent compared to $999.55 million during the same period last year. The numbers confirm something Pakistani consumers already know: demand for smartphones is back, and it is rising sharply.

But buried inside these import figures is a story that matters even more — Pakistan's local mobile manufacturing industry is quietly becoming one of the country's most significant industrial success stories.

The Import Numbers: Month by Month

In rupee terms, the value of mobile phone imports reached Rs364.68 billion during July to February FY2026, compared to Rs278.16 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year — an increase of 31.1 percent. 

February 2026 showed a slight monthly correction. Mobile phone imports totalled $155.547 million in February 2026, compared to $179.336 million in January 2026 — a month-on-month decline of 13.26 percent.  This kind of monthly fluctuation is normal in import-heavy industries and does not indicate a trend reversal.

On a year-on-year basis, however, the picture is consistently strong. Mobile imports in February 2026 were 17.95 percent higher than the $131.870 million recorded in February 2025  — confirming that demand is genuinely recovering, not just bouncing from a low base.

Key Import Figures at a Glance

Source: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS)

The Context: Where Pakistan Was Just One Year Ago

These growth figures only make complete sense against the backdrop of what happened in FY2024–25. Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $1.494 billion in fiscal year 2024–25 — a fall of 21.31 percent compared to $1.898 billion in 2023–24. In rupee terms, this represented a 22.09 percent decline from Rs535.690 billion to Rs417.351 billion. 

That FY2024–25 decline was driven by a combination of economic headwinds — high inflation, tight import controls, and squeezed consumer purchasing power. The sharp recovery in the current fiscal year signals that stabilising economic conditions and returning consumer confidence are translating directly into mobile phone purchases.

The turnaround is real. The question is whether it is sustainable — and local manufacturing data provides a significant part of the answer.

The Bigger Story: Local Manufacturing Is Outpacing Imports by a Factor of 13

Import data captures only one half of Pakistan's mobile market picture. The other half — and arguably the more important one — is what Pakistani factories are producing.

During the full calendar year 2025, local manufacturing and assembling plants produced 30.21 million mobile handsets, while only 2.37 million units were imported commercially during the same period. 

Read that again: 30.21 million phones assembled locally versus 2.37 million imported commercially. Local production is running at more than 13 times the volume of commercial imports.

In January 2026 alone, local manufacturing and assembling plants produced 1.69 million handsets, compared to only 0.47 million phones imported commercially. The ratio holds consistently month after month.

Local Production vs Commercial Imports

What Pakistan Is Actually Producing: Smartphones vs 2G

Of the 1.69 million handsets produced in January 2026, approximately 0.92 million were smartphones and 0.77 million were 2G feature phones. 

The smartphone-to-2G split in local production closely mirrors what is actually being used across Pakistan's mobile network. According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority data, smartphones account for approximately 71 percent of mobile devices currently active on Pakistan's network, while the remaining 29 percent are 2G devices. 

This is a significant shift from even three years ago, when 2G devices were far more prevalent. Pakistan's network is gradually — and now measurably — becoming a smartphone-first network.

The New Manufacturing Policy: Pakistan's Next Move

The strong local assembly numbers arrive alongside a significant policy development. A new government policy for mobile phone manufacturing covering the period 2026 to 2033 has been drafted by the Engineering Development Board (EDB). The policy aims to turn Pakistan into an export-competitive electronics manufacturing hub, targeting a 50 percent localisation rate and growing exports beyond $500 million through progressive localisation, globally certified testing, and a performance-linked incentive regime. 

The challenge this policy is designed to address is honest: more than 90 percent of the parts going into locally assembled mobile phones are still imported. Local assembly does not mean local manufacturing — it simply means components are brought in from abroad and assembled in Pakistan. 

The 2026–2033 policy wants to change that fundamentally — moving Pakistan up the manufacturing value chain from assembly to actual component production and eventually export. Whether it succeeds where the 2020–2023 policy fell short on localisation targets remains to be seen.

What These Numbers Mean for Pakistani Consumers

Three takeaways from today's data that directly affect anyone buying or planning to buy a phone in Pakistan:

1. Supply is healthy. With 30+ million locally assembled phones and growing imports, the market is well-supplied. There are no shortage-driven price spikes on the horizon.

2. Smartphone prices are stabilising. The import recovery combined with strong local assembly is maintaining competitive pricing. The extreme price volatility of 2022–2023 — driven by import restrictions and rupee depreciation — has significantly eased.

3. The 2G-to-smartphone transition is real and accelerating. With 71 percent of active devices now smartphones, Pakistan's tech ecosystem is genuinely maturing. This creates better opportunities for app-based services, mobile banking, and digital commerce for both consumers and businesses.

The Bottom Line

Pakistan's mobile phone import data for the first eight months of FY2026 tells a recovery story — consumer demand is back, import values are rising, and the market is growing. But the more significant story is the one the imports don't fully capture: a domestic manufacturing industry that now assembles over 13 phones for every one commercially imported.

The next chapter — real component-level manufacturing rather than assembly — is what the 2026–2033 policy is attempting to write. The foundations are in place. The execution will determine whether Pakistan becomes a genuine regional manufacturing hub or remains an assembly point for components made elsewhere.

For now, the numbers are pointing in the right direction.

Author Bio — Omar Shahid: Omar Shahid is a tech and mobiles writer who has covered Pakistan's smartphone market, IT industry, and consumer technology for TechJuice, Brecorder's tech desk, and Dawn Images. He specialises in translating industry data into buying decisions that real consumers can act on. Connect: linkedin.com/in/omarshahid-techwriter.