Pakistan's mobile-phone factories are now supplying the bulk of the country's handsets, though much of what they make remains decidedly low-tech. Local assemblers produced 13.1m devices in January-June 2026, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data reported by Gwadar Pro, while imports totalled just 2.55m. Yet basic 2G phones still outnumber smartphones on the production line, even as manufacturers begin to roll out 5G models.

Of the six-month total, 7.32m units were 2G handsets and 5.78m were smartphones. That leaves feature phones making up well over half of local output, a sign that a large segment of Pakistani consumers continues to buy simple, inexpensive devices.

Smartphones have nonetheless become a substantial part of the domestic industry. Production at this scale indicates that assemblers are increasingly moving beyond entry-level handsets towards more sophisticated products for a changing market.

The most striking development is the arrival of 5G. Some 101,005 5G-enabled handsets were assembled locally in May 2026 alone. While still a small fraction of overall output, the figure suggests manufacturers are starting to introduce next-generation devices into Pakistan's production mix.

Chinese brands occupy several of the leading positions in the rankings. VGO TEL topped local assembly with 1.86m devices in the first half of the year, followed by Infinix with 1.34m. Itel produced 0.89m units, while TECNO and Vivo assembled 0.83m and 0.78m respectively.

Further down the table, Samsung recorded 0.77m units and Nokia 0.70m. ONKA also stood at 0.70m, X Mobile at 0.52m, and Oppo and QMobile at 0.48m each. The spread of output across many brands points to a competitive and fragmented market.

The gap between local production and imports underlines how far domestic assembly has come. With more than five phones made at home for every one brought in from abroad, Pakistan's handset market now depends overwhelmingly on local factories. The next question is whether the industry can climb further up the technology ladder. A growing smartphone share and the first wave of 5G devices point in that direction. But with 2G handsets still forming the majority of output, the shift towards higher-value production has some way to go.