Samsung ends mobile phone production in China • Hacker News Board

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#31

Post by taneq » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:24 AM UTC

desdiv wrote: post #26

latchkey wrote: post #5

Samsung already makes most of their phones in Vietnam. Not a huge difference, other than the lack of tariffs. https://www.economist.com/asia/2018/04/12/why-samsung-of-sou...

There should be more push back against goods made in non-democratic countries like Vietnam, and not just against Made-in-China. My previous phone was a Samsung Galaxy S5 and I was surprised to find out that it was made in Korea. Manufacturing in Korea certainly didn't seem to harm Samsung's financial prospects back then, and the phone wasn't any more expensive than its Made-in-China competitors. I have zero reservati…

> My previous phone was a Samsung Galaxy S5 and I was surprised to find out that it was made in Korea.

Samsung is a Korean company so it's not that weird that they should manufacture things there.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#32

Post by roneythomas6 » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:27 AM UTC

tanilama wrote: post #19

hardwaresofton wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why more producers haven't made this move? If Vietnam is there as far as infrastructure goes and they have the skilled/unskilled labor why is this not a more popular move. Also when we say "make" I assume we mean "assembles". Somewhat anecdotally I recently purchased a laptop and tried to find one that wasn't made in China and it was nigh on impossible.

Because most major manufacturers are mainly Chinese now(Huawei/Xiaomi/Oppo), and China is the NO1 market, why leave China? Samsung had been irrelevant in China for some years now, like below 1% market share. It just can't compete US is by far the only market that Chinese phones haven't dominated, but that is for a reason. Buying an Android in US there has surprising limited choices, Samsung/OnePlus/Pixel in that Orde…

I assume this has to do with carriers. Most people buy their phones from carriers in Canadia, US and Japan. What carriers subsidize dictates the market. In other markets like India where most customers use prepaid plans they get their phones directly from phone manufacturer.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#33

Post by spats1990 » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:30 AM UTC

desdiv wrote: post #26

latchkey wrote: post #5

Samsung already makes most of their phones in Vietnam. Not a huge difference, other than the lack of tariffs. https://www.economist.com/asia/2018/04/12/why-samsung-of-sou...

There should be more push back against goods made in non-democratic countries like Vietnam, and not just against Made-in-China. My previous phone was a Samsung Galaxy S5 and I was surprised to find out that it was made in Korea. Manufacturing in Korea certainly didn't seem to harm Samsung's financial prospects back then, and the phone wasn't any more expensive than its Made-in-China competitors. I have zero reservati…

>I have zero reservations about South Korea's workers' rights protections, workplace health and safety, and environmental regulations.

Well, Samsung only just apologised last year to workers for some unusually high rates of cancer among workers at its (local) semiconductor and display factories[1]. It took ten years or more to go through the Korean courts. In general, Korea's industrial death/injury rates are very high compared to Western countries.[2] Workplace health for workers in Korea's electronics industry in general does not appear great, to say the least.[3] Finally, Samsung's treatment of workers in its Vietnam factories is, by most accounts, subpar at best.[4]

I live in Korea and I've been here for about four years. (Note that if we were to cover something outside tech/electronics, like construction, the workplace health and safety situation in Korea would appear even more dismal). I think I've dumped enough links already, but without adding more I will agree that legal protections for workers are quite strong in Korea at the base level, but they are often blatantly disregarded or skirted around by employers.

[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/samsung-electronics-a...

[2]https://www.ft.com/content/57c76820-d3f0-11e7-8c9a-d9c0a5c8d...

[3]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25938673

[4]https://ipen.org/news/samsung-workers-line%c2%a0unique-repor...

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#34

Post by throwaway4589 » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:31 AM UTC

anonygler wrote: post #20

In addition to tariffs, they were effectively training their competitors in China. Manufacturing in China just accelerates the rate of IP theft.

Isn't that how Samsung grew during the 90s?

Japanese companies outsourced to them, and basically trained their competitors.

Manufacturing in Korea during the 90s just accelerated the rate of IP theft.

It was like that in Japan during the 80s too.

I wonder which country will be after China.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#35

Post by yesplorer » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:35 AM UTC

post_below wrote: post #23

School-Cotton wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

I'll try it without citations :) Because China is an authoritarian regime that imprisons, and sometimes kills, people for their opinions. Because China systematically destroyed one of the oldest and most peaceful cultures the world has ever seen in Tibet. Because China put 100's of 1000's of Muslims in concentration camps. A program which is still happening by all (non Chinese government) accounts. And so on. Not tha…

Beyond your last point on concentration camp, the US isn't a shining example of "imprisons, and sometimes kills," and "systematically destroyed peaceful cultures" either.

And the bail system where poor people can be held for not having money to post bail is akin to decentralized concentration camps around the country. That you can say is a stretch, but you get the point.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#36

Post by throwaway4589 » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:35 AM UTC

post_below wrote: post #23

School-Cotton wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

I'll try it without citations :) Because China is an authoritarian regime that imprisons, and sometimes kills, people for their opinions. Because China systematically destroyed one of the oldest and most peaceful cultures the world has ever seen in Tibet. Because China put 100's of 1000's of Muslims in concentration camps. A program which is still happening by all (non Chinese government) accounts. And so on. Not tha…

> Because China systematically destroyed one of the oldest and most peaceful cultures the world has ever seen in Tibet.

If the criteria is to not have destroyed another culture, then there aren't a lot of countries to manufacture in.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#37

Post by anonygler » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:36 AM UTC

throwaway4589 wrote: post #34

anonygler wrote: post #20

In addition to tariffs, they were effectively training their competitors in China. Manufacturing in China just accelerates the rate of IP theft.

Isn't that how Samsung grew during the 90s? Japanese companies outsourced to them, and basically trained their competitors. Manufacturing in Korea during the 90s just accelerated the rate of IP theft. It was like that in Japan during the 80s too. I wonder which country will be after China.

This reeks of whataboutism. IP theft is problematic and nobody has ever engaged in it to the extent that China has. The Chinese intelligence apparatus is actively engaged in IP theft as well.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#38

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:44 AM UTC

spats1990 wrote: post #33

desdiv wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There should be more push back against goods made in non-democratic countries like Vietnam, and not just against Made-in-China. My previous phone was a Samsung Galaxy S5 and I was surprised to find out that it was made in Korea. Manufacturing in Korea certainly didn't seem to harm Samsung's financial prospects back then, and the phone wasn't any more expensive than its Made-in-China competitors. I have zero reservati…

>I have zero reservations about South Korea's workers' rights protections, workplace health and safety, and environmental regulations. Well, Samsung only just apologised last year to workers for some unusually high rates of cancer among workers at its (local) semiconductor and display factories[1]. It took ten years or more to go through the Korean courts. In general, Korea's industrial death/injury rates are very hi…

[deleted]

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#39

Post by hurrdurr2 » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:44 AM UTC

post_below wrote: post #23

School-Cotton wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

I'll try it without citations :) Because China is an authoritarian regime that imprisons, and sometimes kills, people for their opinions. Because China systematically destroyed one of the oldest and most peaceful cultures the world has ever seen in Tibet. Because China put 100's of 1000's of Muslims in concentration camps. A program which is still happening by all (non Chinese government) accounts. And so on. Not tha…

You should do some actual research on what exactly the culture in Tibet was like before China took over. Not excusing the behavior of the CCP but look up what the lamas were doing back in the day.

It wasn't some Hollywood "paradise" like most people believe.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#40

Post by rjzzleep » Thu, Oct 03, 2019, 5:47 AM UTC

anonygler wrote: post #37

throwaway4589 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that how Samsung grew during the 90s? Japanese companies outsourced to them, and basically trained their competitors. Manufacturing in Korea during the 90s just accelerated the rate of IP theft. It was like that in Japan during the 80s too. I wonder which country will be after China.

This reeks of whataboutism. IP theft is problematic and nobody has ever engaged in it to the extent that China has. The Chinese intelligence apparatus is actively engaged in IP theft as well.

It's how innovation happened throughout human history. The entire oh so celebrated age of enlightenment happened this way.

Nobody would come to the conclusion to call that IP theft though.