You can either import mobile phones or build gigantic airports with $23.7 billon. Turkey seems to have taken the first option, while also building the world's largest airport with $10.2 billion. According to data compiled by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the value of Turkey's mobile phone imports from 2007 to 2017 totaled $23.7 billion, which doubles the $10.2 billion dollar cost of the new Istanbul airport. The number of imported mobile phones was 142.4 million.

2007 saw the highest number of cell phone imports with 15.8 million, while Turkey paid the most for cell phone imports in 2015 with $3.1 billion. In 2017, the cost of mobile phone imports totaled to $2.8 billion.

While $1.7 billion was paid for cell phones in 2007, the figure drastically fell by 37 percent to $1.7 billion for 10.9 million cell phones because of the financial meltdown in 2008. From 2007 to 2017, cell phone imports followed a fluctuating course, and the total number of imported cell phones was 142.3 million. China became the top import source as that country dominates smart phone production.