From a continental perspective, buyers located in Asian countries spent the most on imported cellphones during 2021 with purchases costing $102.7 billion or 36.4% of the global total. Close behind in second place were European importers at 34.2% while 23.3% of cellphones imported worldwide went to North America. Smaller percentages arrived in Latin America (2.8%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (1.7%) then Oceania (also 1.7%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 851712 for telephones for cellular networks (also called mobile phones or cellphones) or for other wireless networks.
Cellphone Imports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that paid the most for imported cellphones during 2021.
- United States: US$54.7 billion (19.4% of total imported cellphones)
- Hong Kong: $37 billion (13.1%)
- Japan: $15.44 billion (5.5%)
- Netherlands: $15.37 billion (5.4%)
- Germany: $11.5 billion (4.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $11 billion (3.9%)
- United Kingdom: $10.6 billion (3.8%)
- Czech Republic: $7.1 billion (2.5%)
- France: $6.3 billion (2.2%)
- Russia: $5.85 billion (2.1%)
- Canada: $5.83 billion (2.1%)
- Mexico: $5.2 billion (1.8%)
- Saudi Arabia: $5.1 billion (1.8%)
- Singapore: $5 billion (1.8%)
- Austria: $4.9 billion (1.7%)
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for cellphones since 2017 were: Czech Republic (up 103.4%), Russia (up 77.7%), United Arab Emirates (up 43.2%) and Canada (up 10.7%).
Four countries posted declines in their purchases of imported cellphones: Netherlands (down -21.3%), Saudi Arabia (down -15.5%), Singapore (down -0.4%) and Germany (down -0.2%).
By value, the listed 15 countries purchased 71.1% of all cellphones imported in 2021.
Cellphones Imported into the United States
America’s global purchases of imported cellphones totaled US$54.7 billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the US imported the highest dollar value worth of cellphones during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2017.
- China: US$39.6 billion (down -2.7% from 2017)
- Vietnam: $10.6 billion (up 208.5%)
- South Korea: $3.7 billion (down -41.8%)
- Japan: $219.2 million (up 1,267%)
- Hong Kong: $135.6 million (up 42.7%)
- India: $73.8 million (up 1,555%)
- Mexico: $67.9 million (down -85.8%)
- Philippines: $42.9 million (up 19,930%)
- Taiwan: $37.3 million (down -96.8%)
- Thailand: $16.8 million (up 398.4%)
- Brazil: $16.1 million (up 259%)
- Germany: $12.7 million (up 30.4%)
- Canada: $11.6 million (up 1.2%)
- Indonesia: $10.5 million (up 21,810%)
- United Kingdom: $9.5 million (down -54%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.9% of cellphones imported by the US in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cellphones to United States since 2017 were: Indonesia (up 21,810%), Philippines (up 19,930%), India (up 1,555%) and Japan (up 1,267%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cellphones supplied to American importers included: Taiwan (down -96.8%), Mexico (down -85.8%), United Kingdom (down -54%) and South Korea (down -41.8%).
Overall, the value of US imported cellphones rose by an average 3% from all supplying countries since 2017 when cellphones purchased cost $53 billion.
Cellphones Imported into Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s global purchases of imported cellphones totaled US$37 billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Hong Kong imported the highest dollar value worth of cellphones during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2017.
- China: US$32 billion (up 6% from 2017)
- United States: $3.2 billion (up 38.3%)
- Japan: $459.3 million (up 15.7%)
- Singapore: $250.3 million (down -67.9%)
- United Arab Emirates: $181.4 million (down -45.5%)
- United Kingdom: $180.4 million (down -16.4%)
- Vietnam: $178.7 million (up 137.9%)
- Philippines: $114 million (up 1,282%)
- Thailand: $66.2 million (up 448%)
- Australia: $66.2 million (up 1.4%)
- South Korea: $64.8 million (down -69.6%)
- Indonesia: $48.3 million (up 2,341%)
- Taiwan: $35.3 million (down -89.9%)
- India: $30.7 million (down -53.2%)
- Netherlands: $21.2 million (down -73.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.6% of Hong Kong’s cellphones imported in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cellphones to Hong Kong since 2017 were: Indonesia (up 2,341%), Philippines (up 1,282%), Thailand (up 448%) and Vietnam (up 137.9%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cellphones supplied to Hong Kong importers included: Taiwan (down -89.9%), Netherlands (down -73.2%), South Korea (down -69.6%) and Singapore (down -67.9%).
Overall, the value of Hong Kong’s imported cellphones increased by an average 4.9% from all supplying countries since 2017 when cellphones purchased cost $35.3 billion.
Cellphones Imported into Japan
Japan’s global purchases of imported cellphones totaled US$15.4 billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Japan imported the highest dollar value worth of cellphones during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2017.
- China: US$13.3 billion (down -0.2% from 2017)
- Thailand: $1.1 billion (up 35,1511%)
- Vietnam: $1 billion (up 3,910%)
- South Korea: $33 million (down -96.4%)
- Indonesia: $15.4 million (no 2017 data)
- Malaysia: $7.7 million (down -89.5%)
- Hong Kong: $5.5 million (up 663.6%)
- Denmark: $1.8 million (up 9,237%)
- United States: $1.7 million (down -18.8%)
- Spain: $864,000 (up 2,986%)
- Taiwan: $592,000 (down -99.1%)
- Philippines: $484,000 (up 310.2%)
- United Kingdom: $378,000 (up 125%)
- Italy: $348,000 (up 1,732%)
- Singapore: $232,000 (up 55.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.997% of Japan’s cellphones imported in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cellphones to Japan since 2017 were: Thailand (up 351,511%), Denmark (up 9,237%), Vietnam (up 3,910%) and Spain (up 2,986%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their cellphones supplied to Japanese importers included: Taiwan (down -99.1%), South Korea (down -96.4%), Malaysia (down -89.5%) and United States (down -18.8%).
Overall, the value of Japan’s imported cellphones increased by an average 7.5% from all supplying countries since 2017 when cellphones purchased cost $14.4 billion.
Cellphones Imported into the UAE
Global purchases of cellphones imported into the United Arab Emirates totaled US$xxx billion in 2021. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the Netherlands imported the highest dollar value worth of cellphones during 2021. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2017.
- China: US$12.2 billion (down -26.1% from 2017)
- Vietnam: $1 billion (up 34.6%)
- Germany: $528.9 million (up 406.7%)
- Belgium: $347.4 million (up 47%)
- Ireland: $195.1 million (down -26.9%)
- Sweden: $156.1 million (up 277.3%)
- India: $154.4 million (up 68199.1%)
- Czech Republic: $134.7 million (up 527.6%)
- United Kingdom: $109.7 million (up 269.9%)
- Thailand: $93.9 million (up 978.2%)
- Hong Kong: $65.1 million (down -89.8%)
- Italy: $51.4 million (up 163.8%)
- Slovakia: $49.7 million (up 560%)
- France: $49.4 million (down -6.3%)
- Poland: $44 million (up 62.8%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.7% of the Netherlands’ cellphones imported in 2021.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of cellphones to the Netherlands since 2017 were: India (up 68,199%), Thailand (up 978.2%), Slovakia (up 560%) and Czech Republic (up 527.6%).
Four countries experienced declines in the value of their cellphones supplied to Dutch importers: Hong Kong (down -89.8%), Ireland (down -26.9%), China (down -26.1%) and France (down -6.3%).
Overall, the value of Netherlands’s imported cellphones fell by an average -21.3% from all supplying countries since 2017 when cellphones purchased cost $19.5 billion.
Searchable List of Mobile Phone Importers
The top 100 buyers of imported mobile phones in the following automated database account for 99.5% of global spending for the commodity during 2021.
| Rank | Importer | Cellphone Imports | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States | $61,659,011,000 | +24.7% |
| 2. | Hong Kong | $45,636,642,000 | +24.6% |
| 3. | Japan | $17,984,777,000 | +20.6% |
| 4. | United Arab Emirates | $14,339,102,000 | -12.8% |
| 5. | Germany | $12,924,870,000 | -4.7% |
| 6. | United Kingdom | $10,366,086,000 | +2% |
| 7. | Russia | $7,745,136,000 | +31.9% |
| 8. | France | $6,695,314,000 | +8.7% |
| 9. | Canada | $6,249,204,000 | +22.4% |
| 10. | Czech Republic | $5,721,425,000 | -20.5% |
| 11. | Netherlands | $5,672,368,000 | +9.5% |
| 12. | Italy | $5,507,335,000 | +12.7% |
| 13. | Mexico | $5,091,869,000 | +36.4% |
| 14. | Saudi Arabia | $5,002,542,000 | +24.1% |
| 15. | South Korea | $4,953,186,000 | +20.7% |
| 16. | Singapore | $4,948,929,000 | +10.1% |
| 17. | Austria | $4,833,288,000 | +191.3% |
| 18. | Thailand | $4,795,442,000 | +38.3% |
| 19. | Spain | $4,318,221,000 | +13.3% |
| 20. | Iran | $4,205,987,000 | +70.7% |
| 21. | Australia | $4,165,658,000 | +9.1% |
| 22. | Slovakia | $3,850,326,000 | -2% |
| 23. | Sweden | $3,692,319,000 | +5.8% |
| 24. | Vietnam | $3,501,213,000 | +133.6% |
| 25. | Taiwan | $3,412,687,000 | +19.1% |
| 26. | Poland | $3,187,046,000 | +8.2% |
| 27. | Belgium | $2,421,053,000 | +10% |
| 28. | Macao | $2,235,787,000 | +329.3% |
| 29. | Pakistan | $2,226,780,000 | +31.2% |
| 30. | Chile | $2,022,772,000 | +47.2% |
| 31. | Colombia | $1,940,229,000 | +21.2% |
| 32. | Malaysia | $1,733,724,000 | -9.3% |
| 33. | South Africa | $1,659,593,000 | +78.6% |
| 34. | Turkey | $1,589,805,000 | -17.2% |
| 35. | Switzerland | $1,564,017,000 | +8.8% |
| 36. | India | $1,532,452,000 | -28.9% |
| 37. | Israel | $1,525,727,000 | +28.3% |
| 38. | Peru | $1,416,006,000 | +54.1% |
| 39. | Denmark | $1,318,030,000 | +12.1% |
| 40. | China | $1,315,894,000 | +46.5% |
| 41. | Egypt | $1,291,042,000 | +43.6% |
| 42. | Norway | $1,198,367,000 | +15.8% |
| 43. | Philippines | $1,164,310,000 | +6.5% |
| 44. | Romania | $1,148,747,000 | +7.4% |
| 45. | Hungary | $1,004,094,000 | -13.2% |
| 46. | Ukraine | $898,662,000 | +21.6% |
| 47. | Paraguay | $882,814,000 | -8.2% |
| 48. | Finland | $839,211,000 | +8.3% |
| 49. | Indonesia | $833,168,000 | +41.9% |
| 50. | Portugal | $767,785,000 | +8.9% |
| 51. | New Zealand | $731,630,000 | +17.4% |
| 52. | Greece | $673,480,000 | +36.7% |
| 53. | Kazakhstan | $634,607,000 | -5.2% |
| 54. | Guatemala | $628,339,000 | +18% |
| 55. | Morocco | $625,110,000 | -2.4% |
| 56. | Ireland | $587,585,000 | -5.8% |
| 57. | Brazil | $534,348,000 | -16.8% |
| 58. | Lithuania | $513,453,000 | +1.8% |
| 59. | Bulgaria | $452,107,000 | +4% |
| 60. | Latvia | $419,983,000 | -18.2% |
| 61. | Sri Lanka | $407,438,000 | +52.4% |
| 62. | Estonia | $386,449,000 | +73.3% |
| 63. | Ecuador | $377,488,000 | +6.1% |
| 64. | Croatia | $350,561,000 | +12.1% |
| 65. | Nepal | $350,217,000 | +57.2% |
| 66. | Serbia | $333,120,000 | +6% |
| 67. | Slovenia | $324,702,000 | +6.1% |
| 68. | Belarus | $315,522,000 | -0.7% |
| 69. | Panama | $297,535,000 | -15% |
| 70. | Bangladesh | $293,546,000 | -23.1% |
| 71. | Costa Rica | $282,343,000 | +7.5% |
| 72. | Dominican Republic | $267,279,000 | -8.5% |
| 73. | Azerbaijan | $235,672,000 | +13.5% |
| 74. | Tunisia | $231,707,000 | +4.5% |
| 75. | El Salvador | $226,637,000 | +11.9% |
| 76. | Kuwait | $225,935,000 | -72% |
| 77. | Jordan | $218,042,000 | -35.8% |
| 78. | Uzbekistan | $203,144,000 | +90.3% |
| 79. | Lebanon | $194,885,000 | +109.9% |
| 80. | Uruguay | $186,514,000 | +8.6% |
| 81. | Honduras | $164,971,000 | +19.7% |
| 82. | Luxembourg | $164,700,000 | +14% |
| 83. | Georgia | $158,537,000 | +23.5% |
| 84. | Kenya | $138,425,000 | +22.9% |
| 85. | Qatar | $137,751,000 | -66.4% |
| 86. | Myanmar | $132,370,000 | -63.3% |
| 87. | Venezuela | $131,472,000 | +11.9% |
| 88. | Mali | $131,037,000 | +98.2% |
| 89. | Cyprus | $128,570,000 | +24.4% |
| 90. | Oman | $123,136,000 | -86% |
| 91. | Kyrgyzstan | $120,746,000 | +26.7% |
| 92. | Iraq | $118,462,000 | -96.1% |
| 93. | Ghana | $93,368,000 | +22.3% |
| 94. | Moldova | $91,639,000 | +5.9% |
| 95. | Dem. Rep. Congo | $84,271,000 | +1860% |
| 96. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $79,163,000 | +5.1% |
| 97. | Ivory Coast | $77,035,000 | +634.9% |
| 98. | Senegal | $76,882,000 | -11.1% |
| 99. | Cameroon | $76,760,000 | +5.8% |
| 100. | North Macedonia | $72,166,000 | +1.4% |
Focusing on those 100 importers, the fastest growers over the 5-year period from 2017 to 2021 were Uzbekistan (up 12,197%), Mali (up 2,607%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (up 2,181%), Iran (up 695.2%), then Cameroon (up 636.3%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the above table’s columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that no 2020 data was available.
See also Cellphone Exports by Country, America’s Top Trading Partners and Hong Kong’s Top 10 Imports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on September 17, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 17, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 17, 2022