The smartphone production in the country dropped around 50 per cent month-on-month in May due to rising dollar prices and soaring inflation that led people to tighten their belts.

The local manufacturers churned out a total of 6.60 lakh units of smartphones -- 6.15 lakh 4G-enabled smartphones and 45,000 5G-enabled ones in the month, according to latest data of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority.

The country produced 13.15 lakh smartphones in April.

Zakaria Shahid, managing director of Edison Group, the parent company of Symphony, attributed the decline to rising prices of the device due to surging dollar prices that increased the cost of raw materials essential for handset manufacturing.

Currently, 14 manufacturers meet about over 90 per cent of the Bangladesh's demand for smartphones.

The local mobile manufacturing and assembling industry players said their sales have fallen by over 20 per cent this year.