Pakistan assembles 18.66m mobile handsets in 8 months of 2026

Pakistan manufactured 18.66 million mobile handsets in the first eight months of 2026, compared to 2.74 million imported locally. The country produced 134,501 5G-enabled mobile handsets in August 2026, up from 553,079 in 2025. During the entire calendar year 2025, local plants assembled 30.21 million mobile phones, compared to 2.37 million imported.

The local manufacturing sector produced 8 million smartphones and 11 million 2G phones, with 71% of devices being smartphones and 29% being 2G devices on Pakistan's network. In the first two months of the current fiscal year, mobile phone imports declined by 8.85%, decreasing to $274.129 million from $300.741 million in the same period last year.

In rupees, imports fell by 10.53% to Rs76.267 billion, down from Rs85.245 billion. On a year-on-year basis, imports declined by 13.82% in August 2026, falling to $133.695 million from $155.129 million in August 2025. On a month-over-month basis, imports decreased by 4.80% in August 2026, compared to $140.434 million in July 2026.

Meanwhile, demand for telecom infrastructure remained strong, with imports of telecom equipment increasing by 8.95% to $432.044 million in July-August 2026, up from $395.536 million in the same period last year. In rupees, this represented a 6.95% increase to Rs120.211 billion, compared to Rs112.398 billion. However, on a year-on-year basis, telecom equipment imports declined by 3.42% to $197.269 million in August 2026, down from $204.263 million in August 2025.

On a month-over-month basis, imports fell by 15.98% in August 2026, compared to $234.775 million in July 2026.