Jobs, Skills, and Foreign Exchange
According to Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturers Association, the sector supports 40,000+ direct and indirect jobs in 2024. Other estimates place direct employment near 60,000.
Eight dedicated training centers now graduate 5,000+ technical staff annually, with 12,000 workers trained in advanced manufacturing processes.
Local manufacturing reduced Pakistan’s mobile phone import bill by $1.2 billion in 2024, a 35% year-on-year decline, while contributing PKR 15 billion in tax revenue.
This is not symbolic industrialization. It is balance-of-payments relief.
Brands Manufacturing in Pakistan
Global brands assembling locally include Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme, Infinix, Tecno, Itel, Nokia, alongside more than a dozen domestic brands. These firms did not enter Pakistan for charity. They entered because scale, policy, and labor economics aligned.
Localization Is Policy-Driven — As It Is Everywhere
Pakistan’s Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy lays out a phased localization roadmap:
• Chargers — localized
• Packaging — fully localized
• Batteries — in progress
• Cables and accessories — in progress
• Plastic casings — in progress
Next phases explicitly target PCB assembly, display modules, and higher-value electronics.
Tariff protection is not a distortion. It is how every manufacturing nation built capability, including China, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and India.
