Pakistan's smartphone industry is facing growing pressure from rising costs, weakening demand and competition from imported used handsets, with company and brand-wise data showing a nearly 26 per cent decline in recorded smartphone volumes over six months. An analysis of the September 2026 summary shows that average recorded unit values for some major Chinese brands more than doubled between March and September.
Industry representatives say the increasing cost of new phones and the growing presence of second-hand imports are making conditions more difficult for domestic assemblers. Speaking to this correspondent, Aamir Allahwala, senior vice-president of the Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturers Association, said the influx of used smartphones was disrupting the market and putting locally assembled new devices under pressure.
He said the apparent saving on a used handset could come with additional costs where batteries needed replacement, chargers had to be purchased separately or the device had a limited remaining service life. He also expressed concern that short-lived imported devices could add to Pakistan's electronic-waste burden.
Allahwala warned that weakening local assembly would undermine employment and domestic value addition, while greater reliance on fully built imported phones would increase pressure on foreign exchange resources. The available company and brand-wise summary records 5,682,226 smartphone units during April-September 2026, compared with 7,661,216 during October 2025-March 2026.
The decline amounts to 1,978,990 units, or approximately 25.8 per cent. The combined recorded value fell by only 6.2 per cent between the two periods, indicating that the reduction in quantity was considerably sharper than the reduction in value.
Monthly volumes also weakened. The total fell from 1,181,409 units in April to 756,767 in September, a decline of nearly 36 per cent.
Across the dataset, average recorded value per unit increased approximately 49 per cent between March and September. For three major Chinese brands, average unit values rose approximately 121 per cent, 149 per cent and 120 per cent, respectively, over that period.
These averages reflect the values and quantities recorded in the summary, rather than changes in retail prices for identical models. A shift towards more expensive models, or fewer lower-priced devices, can also raise the average.
The figures therefore show a more-than-doubling of average recorded values for certain brands, rather than a uniform doubling of retail prices across the market. The growing presence of used imports was highlighted in an October 7 report citing Pakistan Telecommunication Authority data.
Pakistan imported 105,121 used smartphones in September, valued at approximately $14.03 million, alongside 23,616 new fully built smartphones worth approximately $19.40 million. Combined imports of new and used fully built smartphones reached 128,737 units, with a total value of approximately $33.43 million.
Used handsets accounted for nearly 82 per cent of the number of fully built smartphones imported during the month. Local smartphone production, meanwhile, stood at 628,030 units in September.
Imported finished devices were therefore equivalent to approximately one-fifth of domestic smartphone output that month. Industry representatives had also identified higher taxes, weaker purchasing power and competition from imported second-hand phones as pressures on local manufacturing.