Samsung and Oppo to start assembling mobile phones in Pakistan soon

Smartphone manufacturing titans Samsung and Oppo are likely to start local assembly of their mobile phones in Pakistan soon after removal of sales tax on locally assembled mobiles from the ‘above $200’ category.

As reported by Business Recorder, Samsung and Oppo are poised to enter local assembly in Pakistan market and are probably waiting for the implementation of approved recommendation of policy to remove sales tax on locally assembled mobiles from above $ 200 category.

Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy 2020 was approved by the ECC in May 2020. The decision was subsequently ratified by the Cabinet on June 2, 2020.

The mobile device manufacturing policy provides sufficient advantage to the local manufacturing of mobile phones especially ‘below $200’ category in comparison with imports in completely built condition. Vivo, Airlink Communications, and Inovi Telecom are amongst the new investors in local assembly of mobile phones that have already started their trial production in February 2021.

With a combined capacity of more than 1 million handsets per month, these companies are firing on all guns with respect to local mobile assembly, while Karachi-based company Transsion Tecno has boosted local mobile phone assembly from 150,000 to 650,000 units per month owing to increase in demand.

With experienced companies like G-Five and Q Mobile already operating in the market, the introduction of new players and capacity enhancement by existing companies will allow Pakistan to meet a major portion of the local demand, which was around 3.6 million per month in CY 2020.

The mobile phone manufacturing industry is expected to become larger than the automotive industry of Pakistan in terms of turnover in a few years and employment is expected to grow manifold. To further boost the electronics sector, work has already started on preparing appropriate framework for local assembly of tablets, allied equipment and mobile accessories in near future in line with its vision to improve the entire ecosystem, and make this the fastest growing sector in terms of employment and exports in the near future.