Phones and smartphone imports decreased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21), according to the deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
The total imports of smartphones stood at 33,900 devices worth $727.86 million in Q1, while Iran imported 4.14 million devices worth $823.77 in the same quarter of the previous year.
“Phone imports during the three-month period registered a 26.6% and 11.64% decline in terms of number and value year-on-year, respectively,” Foroud Asgari was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
From the total smartphone imports in the current fiscal year, a total of 150.32 million devices worth $180.46 million belonged to phones worth over $600, which accounted for 4.9% and 24.7% of the total phone imports’ number and value, respectively.
The report indicates a decline in the share of premium cellphones ($600) in total imports compared with the previous years.
Premium cellphones usually account for more than 6% of the total imports in terms of number and more than 30% of total imports in terms of value.
Asgari noted that 17.7 million smartphones worth $4.2 billion were imported in the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2022), of which 1.1 million devices worth $1.3 billion belonged to premium cellphones, which accounted for 32.2% and 6.2% of the number and value of total phone imports, respectively.
“In the first five months of the previous fiscal year [March 21-Aug. 22, 2021], imports of smartphones worth over €300 stood at 1.3 million devices, which accounted for 9% of the total smartphone imports’ number and 36% of the total phone imports’ value,” he said.
In fact, the issue of banning the import of phones worth over $600 has been raised many times, but the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade has not confirmed it.
However, the statistics announced by IRICA confirm the recent statements of Mohammad Aalian, the spokesperson of the Mobile Importers Association, who said that since May 14, foreign currency has not been allocated for the import of phones worth over $600.
Premium Cellphones Imported in Nine Months
Premium cellphones worth $940 million and costing over $600 apiece were imported in the last fiscal year’s first nine months (March 21-Dec. 21, 2021), according to the spokesman of the Central Headquarters for Combating Commodity and Currency Smuggling.
“Due to the high forex outlay of premium smartphones, the parliament had increased customs tariffs for phones worth over $600 from 5% to 12% in the fiscal 2021-22 budget law. But unfortunately, it was not effective in reducing the attractiveness of premium phones,” Hamidreza Dehqani-Nia also told the news portal of the headquarters, Epe.ir.
During this period, smartphones priced over $600 used 30% of mobile currency resources, i.e., near $1 billion, but only covered the needs of 5% of the population. About 90% of imported phones costing over $600 belonged to Apple products.
The import of these phones during the period increased by 40% compared with the total imports in the 12 months ending March 20, 2021.
In the budget bill submitted by the government for the fiscal 2022-23 (starting March 21, 2022), the clause related to collecting 12% of the import fee from premium smartphones has been removed. Therefore, the import fee of these phones will be 5% in the next fiscal year, similar to that of other phones.
“As a result, even with the foreign currency problems, more resources will be allocated to premium smartphones, while with the same resources, more phones could be imported. It is also possible to allocate foreign currency to import essential goods, medicines and production inputs,” the spokesman said.
Dehqani-Nia noted that taking into account 10% as customs duty and tax on commercial phones, and 10% as a viable supply chain profit, the current price of a $600 smartphone in the market is about 180 million rials ($644), which is beyond people's purchasing power for a smartphone.
While a majority of people can’t afford premium smartphones and rely on cheaper brands, the import of 27 smartphone models produced by Xiaomi, OnePlus, Realme and Nokia (which produce cheaper smartphones) has been banned due to an inbuilt difficulty in contacting the country's emergency numbers.
In a letter to the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, Director General of Communications Regulatory Authority of Iran Garshasb Jamshidnejad had proposed a ban on the registration of import orders for three smartphone models: Xiaomi 11T, 11T Pro and OnePlus 9.
In another letter to the Mobile Importers Association, the CRA chief had called for a ban on 24 other phone models because of their inability to contact the country's emergency numbers.
