Come early next year, gadget lovers will get to buy flagship models of Samsung, Xiaomi, and iPhone through authorized distributors again. Nepali consumers were deprived of high-end mobile phones after the government enforced import restrictions in April this year. With the government lifting restrictions on the import of smartphones costing over $300, authorized distributors of Samsung, Xiaomi, and iPhone have initiated the process to start importing high-end phones. After the import restrictions were imposed, the flagship models' imports were halted for eight months. While the government had put a ban on importing mobile phones above $300, the flagship models of Samsung, Xiaomi, and iPhone continued to enter the country through the grey market.

Now, authorized distributors say the flagship models will hit the market by late January or early February. According to Pranaya Ratna Stapit, Director at Samsung Nepal, Samsung's two flagship series phones - Galaxy Fold 4 and Galaxy S22 will be introduced to the market by mid-January 2023.

While the S22 series was introduced early this year in the Nepali market, its imports were discontinued after the import restrictions. The S22 series is Samsung's current flagship model. According to Sanjay Agrawal, Executive Director at Ramesh Corp (Mobile and Consumer Durables), the latest flagship phone from Xiaomi stable will hit the market by February. "The new flagship model, Xiaomi-13 will be introduced by early February," said Agrawal whose company Teledirect Pvt Ltd is the official distributor of Xiaomi and Redmi phones in Nepal, "Note 12 and 13 series of Redmi will also be introduced." While Apple announced the new iPhones on September 7, the iPhone 14 series - the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max- will be officially available in the Nepali market from January. The imports of mobile phones have taken a huge beating in the first four months of the current fiscal year due to import restrictions. With the government imposing import restrictions on mobile phones above $300, the import of mobile phones has declined by a whopping 50.36 percent in the first four months of FY 2022/23. According to the Department of Customs, Nepal imported mobile phones worth Rs 10.10 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal. Such imports stood at Rs 20.35 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22). In terms of quantity, mobile phone imports have declined by 71.96 percent this year. Nepal has imported 729,395 units of mobile phones in the current fiscal compared to 2.60 million units in the first four months of the last fiscal year.  Flagship phones to hit the market From Samsung Fold 4 S22 series From Xiaomi Xiaomi 13 From Apple iPhone 14 pro iPhone 14 pro max