Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) is considering suspending
operations at one of its mobile phone manufacturing plants in China due
to slumping sales and rising labor costs, the Electronic Times reported
on Monday.To get more
china news online, you can visit shine news official website.
Samsung
might stop producing mobile phones this year at Tianjin Samsung Telecom
Technology, located in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, the South
Korean newspaper said, describing the move under consideration as a
potential withdrawal.
The world’s biggest smartphone maker said on Monday that nothing had been decided on the fate of its Tianjin operation.
“The
overall smartphone market is having difficulties due to slowing growth.
Samsung Electronics’ Tianjin telecom enterprise aims to focus on
activities that increase competitiveness and efficiency,” it said in a
statement to Reuters.
Just five years ago, Samsung had 20 percent
of the Chinese market only to see that fall to less than 1 percent this
year, outgunned by Huawei , Xiaomi (1810.HK) and other Chinese brands,
particularly on pricing.
The South Korean tech giant is also
under pressure to jump-start faltering smartphone sales after posting
its slowest quarterly profit growth in more than a year, as rivals nip
at its heels with cheaper, feature-packed models.
In addition to the Tianjin plant, Samsung also another Chinese phone factory in Huizhou.
In
recent years, Samsung has focused its major mobile phone investments on
production facilities in Vietnam and India. It opened the world’s
biggest smartphone factory outside New Delhi last month, which is slated
to become an export hub.
According to the Electronic Times, its
Tianjin plant in China produces 36 million mobile phones a year and its
Huizhou plant makes 72 million units a year, while the two factories in
Vietnam combined make 240 million units a year.
The Wall