Back to the grass just smells good! The world's No.1 mobile phone giant returns to China, foreign media: the good old days of Chinese brands are at an end

Samsung does not have much of a share in the domestic market and is even a bit of a "cold" player. But abroad, Samsung's global market share remains number one, and it is currently the only Android "king" that can compete head-to-head with Apple.

Since closing its last mobile phone factory in China in 2019, Samsung has moved its entire supply chain to Southeast Asia. As of now, Samsung's mobile phone presence in China is becoming less and less visible. I believe many people haven't seen a Samsung phone for years.

Not long ago there was news that Samsung, which closed its last mobile phone factory in China three years ago, has plans to return to China shortly. Some Chinese media interviewed Samsung on the matter, but Samsung has yet to respond.

But considering what Samsung has been going through these past few years, it is easy to understand why this kind of news would come out. After Samsung shifted its supply chain to Southeast Asia and India, not a single day has gone smoothly.

The first one to go wrong was the Indian factory. Samsung had intended to make the Indian factory its largest overseas mobile phone factory. The chain in India is extremely incomplete and the workers are far less efficient and qualified than Chinese workers. Until today, Samsung's Indian factory produces phones mainly for the Indian market, with a production capacity of 1/9 of Samsung's, only 30 million units.

As for Samsung's Vietnam factory, the performance is better but limited. The maximum capacity is up to 100 million units, which is about 40% of sales. But the industrial chain of the Vietnam factory is also incomplete, and many parts still have to be imported from China. Production costs are high and labor costs are increasing year by year, the profit output of the Vietnam factory is also getting lower and lower, and the price advantage is gradually lost.

Samsung feels that it cannot leave China, as both India and Vietnam need to import components from China. And the quality and efficiency of local workers are a problem, and the quality control of the products is inferior to that of them.

People who do the maths can be silly, with high production costs and poor reputation. What are you playing?

Samsung looks back on the advantages of building a factory in China back in the day, and it is a case of the plug being lost. Not only does the Chinese market have a well-established upstream and downstream industrial chain, the quality and efficiency of the workers are high and the quality control of the products is excellent. At the time of the closest cooperation, Samsung phones were once synonymous with good phones.

Now that a long time has passed since the Samsung Galaxy note7 battery mishap, consumer backlash against it is much lighter. Plus, Huawei has been sanctioned by the US and there is still a chance for a lot of vacant market share to compete. There is no incentive for Samsung to try to return.

At this point, some foreign media started to alarmist saying that the good times for Chinese domestic phone brands would come to an end when Samsung returned to China.

To be honest, that's not going to happen. Competition in China's mobile phone market has long since entered a white-hot phase, and Samsung's mobile phone slots are there for all to see. With all of Samsung's previous "bad behavior", how many people can buy a phone from one brand?

And domestic phones have many advantages that Samsung does not. Let's not talk about other things, let's talk about fast charging technology. The Samsung S22+ uses a 4500mAh battery with a 45W fast charge, while domestic flagships use a 5000mAh battery with a 120W fast charge, which is not uncommon. And MIUI and Color OS systems are better than Samsung's ONEUI in terms of adaptability and experience.

So, to say that there are no good days for domestic phones is pure bullshit! A few years ago, Samsung was still able to attract consumers with its appearance. Now domestic phones are extremely competitive in both appearance and configuration. Why is it that Samsung phones are killing the market indiscriminately as soon as they enter it? To borrow the mouth of these foreign media?