Local mobile handset production drops to 21.28m units in 2023

In 2023, Pakistan’s local mobile handset manufacturing sector saw a modest decrease, producing 21.28 million units, a slight drop from the 21.94 million handsets manufactured in 2022, and a more notable decline from 24.66 million in 2021.

The reduction in local production has been attributed to challenges in importing necessary accessories, caused by restrictions on opening Letters of Credit (LCs).

During the initial two months of 2024, local facilities assembled 6.1 million mobile handsets, outpacing the 0.3 million units imported commercially.

February alone saw the production of 3.83 million units, compared to the 0.06 million handsets imported during the same month.

The production in early 2024 included a mix of 2.78 million 2G handsets and 3.35 million smartphones, reflecting the market composition reported by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), which indicates that 60 percent of mobile devices on the network are smartphones, with the remaining 40 percent being 2G devices.

Despite the downturn in local manufacturing last year, the country saw an increase in commercial imports of mobile handsets, growing from 1.53 million in 2022 to 1.58 million in 2023.

The total local production for 2023 included 13 million 2G handsets and 8.28 million smartphones.

Import figures for mobile phones also saw significant movement, with the country importing mobile phones worth $1.148 billion during the first eight months of the fiscal year 2023-24, marking a 156.43 percent increase from the $447.854 million recorded in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

However, on a month-on-month basis, February 2024 witnessed a 17.46 percent decrease in mobile phone imports, totaling $160.899 million, down from January’s $194.928 million.

Year-on-year data for February shows an impressive 386.78 percent growth compared to the $33.054 million recorded in February 2023, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).