Chinese mobile phone manufacturing companies have played a crucial role in helping Pakistan bypass import of mobile phones in the year 2021. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, in 2021, the production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants surpassed the imports of mobile phones, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Sunday.

According to official data, during Jan-November 2021, the production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants was 22.12 million while the imports remained at 9.95 million. In 2020, the number of locally manufactured mobile phones was 13.05 million against the hefty 24.51 million imports.

During Jan-November 2021, the local manufacturing plants assembled 9.03 million smartphones while the number of 2G mobile phones remained 13.09 million. As compared to 2020, the comparison to 2G sets has increased in 2021. In 2020, the number of locally manufactured 2G phones remained 10.98 million against 2.06 smartphones; similarly, in 2019 the number of locally assembled smartphones was 0.12 million and 2G phones were 11.62 million.

According to PTA’s data, currently, in Pakistan, the number of mobile 2G devices on the Pakistani network is 48 million while 52 million are smartphone users.

The top ten locally assembling/manufacturing brands include China’s Itel, VGO TEL, Infinix, Vivo, Tecno, QQMEE, and Oppo the remaining three companies are mostly assembling parts imported from China.

During Jan-November 2021, Itel manufactured 3.91 million mobile devices, VGO Tel 2.97m, Infinix 2.65m, Vivo 2.45m, Techno 1.87m, QQMEE 0.86, and Oppo 0.67 million. In August 2021, for the first time ‘Made in Pakistan’ 4G smartphones were exported by Inovi Telecom to the Middle East. It was the beginning of the export of ‘Made in Pakistan’ mobile devices.

In November 2021, Xiaomi, a Chinese mobile giant, announced a partnership with Airlink Communication to start manufacturing smartphones in Pakistan. The company will start manufacturing in the first quarter of 2022 and will produce 2.5 to 3 million handsets per year.

According to experts, in 2022, more than 90% of cellphones sold in the country will be ‘Made in Pakistan’ and Pakistan will soon become one of the major exporters of cellphones.