85% of Nepal’s smartphones now sourced from China

Kathmandu – China’s dominance in Nepal’s smartphone market has been further reinforced, with more than 85 percent of total imports being sourced from the country during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

According to customs data, a total of 1,204,577 smartphones were imported from China during the review period, accounting for 85.13 percent of overall imports. In comparison, 953,216 units had been imported from China during the same period last fiscal year, representing 77.50 percent of total imports.

Overall, more than 1.4 million smartphones were imported into Nepal in the first seven months of the fiscal year, an increase of nearly 200,000 units compared to the corresponding period last year.

The market continues to be largely driven by Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Honor, Realme, and OnePlus, whose presence has been widely observed across the domestic retail market.

Meanwhile, imports from India have been reduced significantly. Only 204,658 units were imported from India during the review period, accounting for 14.46 percent of total imports, compared to 272,066 units in the same period last year. Even devices from global brands such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics assembled in India have witnessed a decline in imports.

The shift has been observed despite increased budget allocations by India to promote its electronics manufacturing sector for fiscal year 2026/27. While smartphones had previously also been sourced in notable numbers from Vietnam, China has now been established as Nepal’s primary supplier of mobile devices.