Samsung is the largest smartphone vendor in the world. Data from multiple industry trackers showed the company shipped nearly 300 million units in the last year alone. As you can probably imagine, it takes a massive manufacturing network to produce over a quarter billion devices every year.
The company has factories in several countries around the world. However, it doesn’t make a difference in the country where are Samsung phones made. Samsung follows a consistent quality standard in all of its factories.
Below is the list of where are Samsung Phones made
China
You might think China is where are Samsung phones made. China is the global production center. Apple’s iPhones are manufactured here.
Samsung shut down its last remaining smartphone factory in China this year. As a result, as of 2019, it does not manufacture phones in the People’s Republic. It used two factories in China, but it no longer makes financial sense for Samsung to make phones in China.
Vietnam
Samsung’s manufacturing facility is located in Vietnam’s Thai Nguyen province, where two factories produce smartphones and tablets. In addition, the company is in the process of adding another factory to the plant. The existing factories produce 120 million units per year.
India
India has not only Samsung’s largest cell phone factory but also the largest cell phone manufacturing unit in the world based on manufacturing capacity. Samsung announced in 2017 that it would double smartphone production in India. In 2018 Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, was inaugurated. The production capacity of this factory is 120 million units per year.
A large part of the offer is destined for the Indian market. It’s one of the most lucrative smartphone markets for Samsung. With import taxes in the country, Samsung needs local manufacturing to effectively price-compete with its competitors. The company also manufactures its Galaxy M and Galaxy A series phones here. However, Samsung can also export Indian-made smartphones to Europe, Africa, and West Asia markets.
South Korea
Samsung operates manufacturing facilities in its home country of South Korea. It is also where most of the components that the company sources from its sister companies are manufactured. However, the smartphone manufacturing factory in South Korea accounts for less than 10 percent of global shipments. This is because the units manufactured here are primarily intended for the company’s local market.
Brazil
Samsung also operates a manufacturing facility in Brazil. It was founded in 1999. More than 6,000 employees work in the factory, from which Samsung ships its smartphones throughout Latin America. Since Brazil also has high import taxes, local manufacturing also allows Samsung to offer its products in the country at a competitive price.
Indonesia
Indonesia is a country that produces Samsung phones. So it was a decision by the company to start making phones in this country. The plant opened in 2015 and has 800,000 units per year of production capacity. That’s enough for Samsung to meet local demand.
How Samsung’s manufacturing priorities are changing
The smartphone market has changed a lot in the last ten years. Chinese smartphone manufacturers have become very competitive in all market segments. Samsung had to adapt to the increasing pressure.
This has resulted in a shift in the company’s manufacturing priorities. As a result, Samsung released its first ODM smartphone, the Galaxy A6s, in 2019. A third party manufactured this device for the Chinese market. The ODM solution allows Samsung to improve its margins on affordable devices. It is now expected that 60 million ODM smartphones will soon be shipped to markets worldwide.
A major shift to the ODM model would mean that Samsung hasn’t used all the production capacity available in its factories. Unless shipments for the smartphone market increase and it can increase its market share.
Where are the original Samsung phones made?
There are some misconceptions about “original” Samsung phones based on the country of manufacture. The abundance of misinformation on the Internet does not help. All Samsung phones manufactured in its own factories or its ODM partners are “genuine.” It doesn’t matter whether the factory is in South Korea or Brazil. A smartphone made in a factory in Vietnam is not inherently better than one made in Indonesia.
That’s because these factories only really assemble the devices. They all receive the same components and follow manufacturing and quality processes. So you don’t have to worry whether your Samsung phone is original or not, depending on where it was made. Unless it’s an obvious fake that says “Samsung” or something on the back, this is another problem.
