What happened
Pakistan’s mobile-phone manufacturing sector continued to expand in March 2026, with local production rising sharply compared with a year earlier, according to figures released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Domestic manufacturers and assemblers produced 2.79 million mobile phones during March, a 20 percent increase over the 2.33 million units assembled in the same month of 2025.
For the first quarter of 2026, cumulative local production reached 7.36 million units, a modest 2 percent year-on-year increase. The data indicates that 86 percent of total mobile-phone demand is now met through local manufacturing rather than imports.
Industry volumes were led by VGO TEL, which assembled 1.12 million units in the first quarter. It was followed by Infinix, Vivo, Samsung, Itel, Tecno, Nokia, X Mobile, OPPO and Realme.
Why it matters
Successive governments have used policy incentives to encourage device assembly inside the country, aiming to reduce the import bill and build a domestic electronics base. The latest PTA figures suggest those incentives are continuing to shift demand toward locally assembled handsets.
The benefit for consumers is less clear. Phones are not getting cheaper, and the report questioned where the price advantage of local production has gone.
What is still uncertain
In a related move, the Directorate General of Customs Valuation in Karachi issued revised customs values for commercial imports of old and used mobile phones in 62 brands, with rates for Apple, Sharp, Samsung, Google Pixel and OnePlus rising, mostly because of higher PTA taxes.
The report did not say how much of each handset is manufactured locally versus simply assembled from imported components, a distinction that industry critics argue matters for both jobs and prices.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 2026-04-30.
- Primary source — ProPakistani: “Made in Pakistan Phones Now Market Kings, But Where is the Price Benefit?”30 April 2026 · Reports the PTA March and first-quarter production figures, the leading assemblers and the revised customs values for used phone imports.
