ISLAMABAD: A formal clarificatory statement has been issued by the Pakistan Customs to rectify the serious misrepresentation carried out by the media regarding the mobile phone import figures of the country. The clarification on mobile phone import figures in Pakistan separates Completely Knocked Down and Semi Knocked Down mobile phones, that are imported to be assembled locally at an estimated amount of Rs420 billion, from the Completely Built Unit mobiles that form merely Rs100 billion or 20 percent of the entire import value.

Considering the entire amount of Rs520 billion as imports of ready handsets, as reported by some, is an exaggeration of Pakistan’s dependency on the imports of ready-made handsets and also ignores the volume of assembly operations conducted within the country.

Import Breakdown Corrected – FY2025-26

The custom clearance on mobile phones in Pakistan makes it evident that the mobile phone industry of Pakistan is mainly based on assembling and not on importing fully assembled units since the majority of the imports made by Pakistan includes components and kits which are used for assembling phones locally.

Why the Difference is Important for Pakistan’s Industrial Policy

The customs clarification on mobile phones imports into Pakistan is relevant to Pakistan’s industrial policy. The mobile phones assembly industry in Pakistan has expanded significantly in recent years due to the encouragement provided by the government for manufacturing within the country through policies favoring CKD/SKD kits imports over CBU devices imports.

The arrival of Rs420 billion worth of CKD/SKD kits in Pakistan leads to the creation of jobs in manufacturing, development of local industrial capacity, and creation of value addition in Pakistan's economy. The arrival of Rs100 billion worth of CBU phones leads to government revenue collection but very little economic activity in the country.

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CBU Phones and the iPhone & Pixel Effect – A New CBU Narrative

In the context of CBU phones imported into Pakistan, the Pakistan Mobile Phone Import Data Customs Clarification shows a remarkable surge in the import of premium CBU smartphones, where CBU phones have gone up from roughly 0.29 million units in FY2024-25 to 1.04 million units in FY2025-26 – a massive 259 percent year on year jump.

According to industry sources, roughly 60 percent to 70 percent of the increase comprised new and secondhand Apple iPhones and Google Pixels – brands which are not produced locally and hence cannot be supplied via Pakistan’s local assembly value chain.

As neither of these two brands is locally produced, an increase in their imports is indicative of real demand from consumers because these items cannot be produced by local assembly, but it does not mean that there is a shift from locally manufactured devices.

Formal commercial channels are currently the most cost-effective means of legally importing premium phones since it is more economically sensible to have paperwork than to use passports.

This does not represent a sector being buoyed by an increase in the number of goods that evade taxes but rather one that is moving away from its informal practices of smuggling and misclassification and towards a regime of legalised and properly taxed imports.

Stronger customs controls against such evasion tactics, better import clearance processes, and more effective collaboration between PTA on device registration were cited as contributing to the growth in tax revenues as well as supporting the continuing development of the local assembly industry as the mobile sector’s primary economic driver.