Pakistan's mobile phone imports have surged sharply in the current fiscal year, rising by over 31 percent in seven months, even as domestic manufacturing continues to produce millions of handsets-highlighting a widening gap between local supply and consumer demand. Official data shows that mobile phone imports reached $1.139 billion during July-January FY2025-26, up from $867.7 million in the same period last year. In local currency, the increase was even more pronounced, climbing 33.07 percent to Rs 321.137 billion. The upward trend persisted in recent months. Imports rose by 12.60 percent in January 2026 compared to December, reaching $179.38 million. On a year-on-year basis, January imports jumped by 33.62 percent from $134.24 million. This resurgence follows a contraction in the previous fiscal year, when mobile imports fell by 21.31 percent to $1.494 billion. Overall telecom imports also declined during FY2024-25, dropping by 11.30 percent to $2.099 billion. The renewed increase in imports comes desp ite robust domestic assembly. Local manufacturing plants produced 30.21 million handsets in 2025, including 15.64 million smartphones and 14.57 million 2G devices. In December alone, 2.61 million units were assembled domestically, compared with just 0.33 million imported commercially. Market composition further underscores shifting consumption patterns. According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, smartphones now account for 71 percent of devices in use, while 2G phones make up the remaining 29 percent. The data suggests that while local assembly capacity is substantial, it has not curtailed reliance on imports. Instead, rising demand-particularly for smartphones-appears to be driving increased inflows, complicating efforts to manage the import bill while promoting domestic production.