Samsung Outsources Smartphone Production To China, Risks Quality With Move

Korean smartphone giant Samsung is planning to outsource its smartphone production to Chinese manufacturers. The company is silently making this move to boost its smartphone production in 2020. However, this bolstering move could potentially endanger the company’s device quality.

According to Reuters, Samsung is quietly contacting original design manufacturer (ODMs) to help out with its smartphone production. The company is projecting around 60 million devices to be part of its 300 million device rolled out by 2020.

So far, Samsung has been in talks with Chinese company Wingtech for the production boost. Wingtech, along with other ODMs, are already working for Samsung’s smartphone rivals such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo. However, Samsung can benefit from this due to the reduced costs to make the units.

However, analysts and critics see this move as a risk for Samsung. Potentially, the lack of total control throughout their smartphone’s production could compromise its quality in the long run. Over the past years, Samsung has had a record of defective devices en masse such as the Galaxy Note 7 and the initial reveal of the Galaxy Fold this 2019. The potential failure of Samsung’s next device could set the company's progress back once more.

While Samsung has recovered gracefully with the success of the latter iterations of its smart devices, the company had to delay its production on other devices. With its current standing among rivals Apple and Huawei, Samsung can’t afford to get left behind after the Galaxy Fold and Galaxy S10 failed to hit massive sales worldwide.

Potentially, Samsung is planning to release a better device by 2020 as its 2019 devices releases failed to win more customers than the competition. As of now, Apple is currently enjoying the massive demand for the iPhone 11, and Huawei is still finding alternative sources of income after the trade ban. Apple is said to start the upcoming year with another cheap smartphone incoming to start the year strong.

Samsung has yet to make its own wave with its devices. Meanwhile, Samsung is about to sell its 10^th anniversary package which features three of its flagship devices in one bundle this year