Smartphone users in Pakistan seem to love Samsung's new Galaxy S24 series. The tech giant was taken by surprise by an unexpectedly high demand and is now facing a shortage of Galaxy S24-series phones in the country.
Samsung began assembling phones in Pakistan in 2021 when it struck a deal with Lucky Motor Corporation. The company was incentivized by the local government's Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy (MDMP), which came into effect in 2020.
A Bloomberg report (via Times of India) says that, up until recently, phone buyers in Pakistan gravitated more toward budget-friendly devices. However, this year, the market appears to have shifted unexpectedly toward premium phones, and the Galaxy S24 series, especially, has gained much popularity.
Samsung is working on bringing the S24 back in stock
Pakistan ranks fifth in the global mobile user base with 192 million customers, but flagship phones haven't been the most popular in the country. Incidentally, since Samsung started assembling Galaxy phones locally, more customers in Pakistan seem to gravitate toward pricier Galaxy phones. The majority of new Galaxy S24-series phones sold in Pakistan are assembled locally at the Lucky Motor Corporation plant at Port Qasim.
The high demand for the Galaxy S24 lineup appears to have taken even Samsung by surprise. At the moment, Galaxy S24-series phones are reportedly hard to come by in Pakistan. However, the company is working to address the flagship phone shortage. In a recent statement, Samsung said it is “working hard to meet the demand of our customers, and we anticipate sales will resume shortly.”
When Samsung launched the domestic manufacturing program in 2021, it aimed for 80% of all Galaxy phones sold in Pakistan to be manufactured locally by 2022. This year, market watchers expect domestic phone assembly to increase by 30-40%.
The Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra are Samsung's first flagships to introduce Galaxy AI. This shift in focus on ‘Advanced Intelligence' features, as Samsung calls them, appears to have helped the popularity of the Galaxy S24 lineup worldwide.
