Pakistan to become more self-reliant in smartphone production: Fitch

The entry of global smartphone manufacturers in Pakistan will make the country more self-reliant in the local production of handsets, said Fitch Solutions in report released earlier this week.

The development comes as Chinese smartphone vendor vivo opened its new smartphone manufacturing facility in Pakistan just days ago, with fellow competitors such as Xiaomi and Realme already in line to open up their local manufacturing sites within the next few months.

Fitch said that Pakistan needs to become less dependent on imports and falling total ownership costs (TCOs) for “premium devices will be key to unlocking the full value of the country's fast-growing mobile broadband market”.