Mobile phones made in Pakistan: new policy targets 50% local value addition, up from 10% to 20%

Pakistan wants up to half of every phone assembled in the country to be made here, under a new Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy that the Ministry of Industries and Production is drafting, Business Recorder reported on Friday from an official document. Domestic value addition today is estimated at only 10% to 20%: most phones built in Pakistan are assembled from imported kits.

The target of up to 50% local value addition is to be reached step by step. The document gives no deadline. It replaces the Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy 2020 to 2023, which brought assembly plants to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad but little component manufacturing.

How many phones Pakistan makes

Local plants assembled 20.08 million handsets from January to September 2026: about 8 million smartphones and 12 million 2G feature phones. Commercial imports in the same nine months were just 2.85 million units, so roughly seven in eight phones sold here are now assembled locally.

Top assemblers, January to September 2026 (million units):

Infinix led in 2024 (3.98 million) and 2025 (3.65 million). VGO TEL, which mostly makes feature phones, has taken the top spot this year.

PTA data cited in the document shows smartphones are now 71% of devices active on Pakistani networks, and 2G phones 29%.

The import bill is falling

Mobile phone imports cost $417.24 million in July to September (the first quarter of FY2026-27), down 16.6% from about $500 million a year earlier. In rupees that is Rs 116 billion, against Rs 141 billion. September alone was $143.14 million, up 7.1% on August but 28.2% below September 2025.

What it means for buyers

More local parts (batteries, chargers, casings, printed circuit boards) can cut what assemblers pay in duties on imported kits, which is the part of a phone's price that policy can move. The catch is that a stricter value-addition rule can also raise costs for brands that cannot source parts locally yet. Nothing changes on shop prices until the policy is approved, and the document did not say what incentives or penalties it will carry.

Phones brought in from abroad still pay PTA registration tax: our PTA mobile tax calculator shows the amount by model. For the current prices of locally assembled Infinix, Tecno, Itel, Samsung and Vivo models, see our mobile prices in Pakistan list.