Samsung stops production of mobile phones in China

Samsung Electronics has completely stopped manufacturing mobile phones in China. The electronics giant said this to Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Samsung would be too much hindered in the country by the increasing competition from Chinese brands.

Samsung’s decision to close its last Chinese factory in the city of Huizhou is not entirely unexpected. In June, production and the number of employees in Huizhou were already reduced, and in 2018 Samsung already closed another factory in China.

The South Korean company is said to stop manufacturing phones in China as it is rapidly losing market share in China in favor of local players such as Huawei and Xiaomi. Market researcher Counterpoint calculated that this market share in the first quarter was only one percent, coming from about fifteen percent in mid-2013. Production in China may become less interesting for the company as sales there decline. A Samsung spokesperson could not immediately confirm this, but did add that production capacity in China was relatively small. “Most aircraft are made in South Korea itself and in Vietnam.”

Samsung says in a statement that the production lines will be moved to other production facilities in the world. The company does not provide further details about this, but it is known that the electronics giant has invested heavily in factories in low-wage countries, such as India and Vietnam, in recent years.

The news does not necessarily mean that no Samsung phones will be made in China from now on. Budget devices such as the Galaxy A10s and A6s, for example, are not produced by Samsung itself, but under license by Chinese companies. The closing of the last own factory in Huizhou is not expected to have a direct effect on the production of this type of ODM devices.