Pakistan produces 17.34m mobile phones in H1CY24: PTA

August 05, 2024 (MLN): Local mobile assembly and manufacturers have produced 17.34 million mobile phones during the first six months of the ongoing calendar year (January-June 2024), while commercial imports totaled 0.84 million.

A breakup of the data on local production provides details that out of the total 17.34m devices produced, 11.15m were smartphones while the remaining 6.19m were 2G devices.

Brandwise, Infinix took the lead in production by manufacturing 2.49m units in Jan-Jun 2024.

The second and third ranks were held by TECNO and Itel, with outputs of 1.89m and 1.83m, respectively, during the review period.

It is crucial to note that production has been on a declining trend since 2022 due to economic depression in the country and rising interest rates which acted as a constraint for the local industry.

In 2021, PTA reported that 24.66m devices were manufactured, and in 2023 the figure dropped to 21.28m units, around 13.71% lower.

However, a greater drop was noticed in the commercial import section, reducing from 24.51m in 2020 to just 1.58m in 2023.

This decline is attributed to the import restrictions imposed by the central bank to curb the gap between export and import and reduce the outflow of foreign currency.

With the expanding reach of internet services, the threshold of smartphone devices on the Pakistan network has increased to 61%, compared to 59% in 2023 and 56% in 2022.

Conversely, the use of 2G devices on the local network has reduced to 39%, in contrast to 41% in 2023 and 44% in 2022.

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