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Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

reuters.com

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Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#121

Post by shp0ngle »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #9
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...

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.

One problem in Vietnam is that it really does NOT have the infrastructure that China has. (Just look at the state of public transport in China vs Vietnam.)

It's better than Laos/Cambodia, but the streets are now flooded with cars far more than even 1 year ago, and the traffic is becoming a huge issue.

And right now, with all the new factories, Vietnam is suddenly almost as polluted as China. (Just recently we have record AQI numbers here.) But of course rich countries don't care about that, as long as the phones are cheap...

All in all, people are happy, since it helps their bottom line. But the infrastructure is not there yet to beat China.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#122

Post by shp0ngle »

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…

Democratic countries cost too much money, since they value environment and worker rights too much.

People say they support human rights and environment, but then they still go for the price.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#123

Post by krageon »

shp0ngle wrote: post #121
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.

One problem in Vietnam is that it really does NOT have the infrastructure that China has. (Just look at the state of public transport in China vs Vietnam.) It's better than Laos/Cambodia, but the streets are now flooded with cars far more than even 1 year ago, and the traffic is becoming a huge issue. And right now, with all the new factories, Vietnam is suddenly almost as polluted as China. (Just recently we have re…

I am not sure why it is up to "rich countries" to fix Vietnam's pollution problem. Do not allow the building of factories that pollute a lot and it will get better. This is something Vietnam can do on it's own. Absolutely zero foreign interference required.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#126

Post by bnt »

thrwweasdfa243 wrote: post #42

Note - Vietnam has an FTA with India (unlike China), and so this also helps it fight back against Chinese smartphone players that are currently dominating in India AND it also works as a bargaining chip with the Indian govt. for tax incentives. IIRC they moved their television assembly back to Vietnam in retaliation for some failed deal last year. Might be a good idea too, the Indian state is a moronic rent-seeking s…

They have 1 billion people, they are a market who can do whatever they like, in their own right.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#127

Post by Simulacra »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #124

Maybe this is a stupid/naive question but why doesn’t Samsung make their phones in Korea?

Probably labor cost.

An anecdote: There’s a really good book called China Inc. that has a story about a belt manufacture in America. The American executive tours a belt manufacture in China one day. He sees that all of the leather hides that have blemishes are being used whereas he would have to discard them. The Chinese factory had so many workers that were paid so little, they could afford to pay someone to cut out small, even tiny patches of leather, and glue them into the blemishes of the belts. It hit the guy so hard that he decided then and there to close his factory in America and move it to China.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#128

Post by esailija »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #112
zwayhowder wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go to Japan. A number of Panasonic, Fujitsu & Sony laptops are made there that are only ever sold in the domestic market because of the high costs. Though for the build quality they are still not too bad in terms of value. Of course their displays and RAM are probably made in Korea or China as are the SSDs and I've never pulled one apart to check the motherboard and battery providence... However they are definitely a…

Japan's economy fascinates me. The vast majority of the cars you see on the roads, computers in offices, TVs in hotel rooms, cameras in people's hands etc are Japanese. Amazing self-sufficiency in a world where globalisation is becoming the norm. Japanese-made products are also pretty universally considered to be very well designed and built, too.

Yeah raw materials and parts just fall magically out of the sky, as long as you do the final assembly (and sometimes not even that, sometimes only packaging a product is needed for "made in x") yourself then you are self-reliant.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#129

Post by kalleboo »

tooltalk wrote: post #88
Razengan wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After decades of stealing from Apple and other companies, Samsung complaining about this is sheer irony.

How do you feel about Apple's theft of Xerox's innovation in the late 70's or Obama's "pardoning" of Apple IP theft (ie, Samsung's USITC victory), that would have banned iPhone imports from China in 2012?

> Apple's theft of Xerox's innovation in the late 70's

Apple was invited to visit Xerox in exchange for pre-IPO stock purchase rights. Xerox's management didn't know the value of what they had and willingly gave it away.

Re: Samsung ends mobile phone production in China

#130

Post by School-Cotton »

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…

The Chinese state does all of that, which doesn’t mean that normal Chinese people are evil.

So why does it mean that they should be impoverished or that it’s morally wrong to contribute to their economic development?

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