According to reports, Samsung will outsource more of its smartphone design and manufacturing to Chinese firms.
Cheaper phones may be possible using this approach, but design and quality may suffer.
From at least 2019, Samsung has contracted with original device manufacturers (ODMs) to handle the design and manufacture of certain low-cost phones. It appears that the firm intends to step up in this area.
According to The Elec, Samsung will produce 67 million smartphones this year compared to 44 million last year through Chinese ODMs, or joint device makers. That means that of Samsung's stated 270 million smartphone production target in 2024, 25% will come from outsourced handsets.
Apart from a growing dependence on Chinese firms for outsourced production, the news source claims that 28 million units will be outsourced to Vietnamese manufacturers.
Outsourced Galaxy phone ups and downs
2019 saw the business first contract out the manufacturing of a few devices, purportedly in an effort to reduce expenses. Though, usually speaking, Samsung only uses this manufacturing approach for its low-cost phones rather than its high-end ones.
This isn't always a terrible thing because the business can employ this outsourcing approach to provide more reasonably priced low-end phones. Samsung's low-end devices run the danger of being inferior, though, as ODM partners may conceivably take short cuts in order to turn a profit.
For the record, the Samsung Galaxy A03s is supposedly an outsourced phone, and we felt it offered excellent battery life and a number of noteworthy enhancements to quality of life. We did, however, also fault the device for its shoddy build and slow operation.
All the same, Samsung was the sole Android manufacturer on the list of the top 10 best-selling smartphones in 2022 and 2023. This implies that the outsourcing approach is providing the customers with affordable Android phones.