In November 2015, industry analyst BenBajarin said that Samsung and the entire Android camp are caught in an 'innovation dilemma'. If Samsung disappears from the smartphone market in the next five years, he will not be surprised at all.
Following the cancellation of Shenzhen Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in April this year, Samsung may have to close another Chinese factory.
On August 13, according to Korean media reports, Samsung Electronics is considering stopping production of mobile phones in Tianjin Samsung Communication Technology Co., Ltd. due to the sharp decline in sales and rising labor costs.
In response to the above matters, the "International Finance News" reporter tried to contact Samsung Electronics China, but as of press time failed to contact.
According to Reuters, Samsung Electronics has not made any decision on the fate of the Tianjin factory.
Samsung Electronics also told Reuters that the entire smartphone market is facing difficulties due to the slowdown. Samsung Electronics' Tianjin Communications Technology Company plans to focus on activities that improve competitiveness and effectiveness.
Some industry experts said that Samsung's withdrawal from the factory is inevitable. If Samsung really withdraws its mobile phone manufacturing plant in Tianjin, Samsung will only have the last mobile phone factory in Huizhou, Guangdong.
With the rise of China's local mobile phone brands in the global market, Samsung's mobile phone market share in China has dropped to around 1%. Although the importance of the Chinese market for Samsung is self-evident, the industry believes that with the recent release Galaxy Note9 or difficult to help Samsung turn over in China.
The largest factory moved to India
Tianjin Samsung Communication Technology Co., Ltd. is a joint venture between Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Electronic Instrument Corporation. It was established in August 2001 and is controlled by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 90%.
Phoenix Technology's field visit reports that the factory staff did not know the news that the factory was going to be closed. From the surface, it was not like the factory reported by the Korean media that it would stop operating.
However, there are indications that China is not the most important production base of Samsung.
In April of this year, employees of Shenzhen Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. received severance notices and the factory will be closed. It is said that the factory is the first communication equipment manufacturer established by Samsung Electronics overseas. The company found that in July, Shenzhen Samsung The main body type of the electronic communication company has been changed from a Sino-foreign joint venture to a limited liability company wholly owned by a foreign legal person.
After the Shenzhen factory was cancelled, Samsung had two factories in Tianjin and Huizhou, Guangdong. However, Samsung has begun to shift its production focus to China.
In July, Samsung announced that it has built the world's largest mobile phone factory in Noida, India. It is reported that the new factory covers an area of 35 acres (about 212.5 acres). After being put into use, Samsung smartphone production is expected to increase from 68 million per year. To 120 million.
Liu Qicheng, an observer in the communications industry, told the International Finance News that Samsung’s sales in the Chinese market have fallen sharply, which will inevitably shut down the factory and move to places where labor costs and production costs are lower.
'The attractiveness of the Indian market lies in the demographic dividend brought by its huge population base, the rapid growth of mobile phone penetration, and the huge space for the development of the mobile phone market. 'Fin Yanjiao, the consulting director of CIC Knowledge Consulting, was interviewed by the International Finance News reporter. In this case, Samsung and domestic brands have obvious design and manufacturing advantages compared to Indian mobile phone brands, and can seize market share in local competition.
The data proves that Samsung's investment in India has been effective. According to the latest report from market research firm Counterpoint, Samsung won 29% market share in the Indian smartphone market in the second quarter of this year, slightly surpassing 28% of Xiaomi's market share. The top of the Indian smartphone market.
Domestic mobile phones are strong in competitiveness
In the view of industry observer Hong Shibin, it is normal for Japanese, Japanese and Korean companies to shut down factories in China. After all, they are facing the competitive pressure of Chinese brands.
It can be said that China's smart phone industry is highly competitive. Huawei, OPPO, VIVO, and Xiaomi's four domestic brands have surpassed Apple's top five shipments. Samsung's shipments in China have dropped sharply in 2015, accounting for less than 1%. %.
Feng Yanjiao said that the main reasons include both internal and external aspects.
Internally, first, the marketing channel is not enough, farther away from consumers, and is forgotten. Second, the battery explosion and the late crisis public relations failed to lead to a sharp decline in brand reputation; third, Samsung The localization of mobile phones is not enough. The design fails to meet the needs of Chinese consumers for endurance, self-timer, games, etc., such as insufficient battery life. Note8 large-screen business mobile phone battery capacity is only 3300 mAh, according to Chinese consumers' habits. Two rushes, while domestic mobile phones are at 4000-7000 mAh.
From the outside, domestic mobile phones are better aimed at domestic consumers' demand for self-timer, games and other functions, and launch more cost-effective products to seize the low-end market.
Feng Yanjiao pointed out that the competitiveness of domestic mobile phones will become stronger and stronger in the future. 'First, at the marketing level, the domestic mobile phone power line layout, OPPO, VIVO will promote the layout of first- and second-tier cities after the low- and medium-tier cities, Xiaomi also plans In recent years, the layout of 1,000 new stores has been completed, and the investment in advertising has also been great. Secondly, at the technical level, domestic mobile phones have broken through the bottleneck of 'lack of cores and less screens' for many years. In the future, domestically produced parts will continue to provide more for domestic mobile phones. Cost-effective raw materials'.
Feng Yanjiao said that Huawei and Xiaomi have independently developed their own chips 'Kirin' and '澎湃', and more than 20% of domestic smartphones use domestic chips. Tianma’s smartphones have the second largest FHD shipment in the world. Market share is close to 20%, battery supplier BYD, Desai, earphone/speaker module supplier Goer Acoustics, AAC Technologies, etc. also grow into industry leaders.
Feng Yanjiao also said that the policy level is also very strong in supporting domestic mobile phones. On the one hand, the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating Brand Building in China's Mobile Phone Industry" released in 2014 emphasizes the transformation and upgrading of the mobile phone industry from scale expansion to brand efficiency; On the one hand, the state actively promotes the implementation of the "National Integrated Circuit Industry Development Promotion Outline", launches industrial strong foundation projects, industrial transformation and upgrading funds, and 'nuclear high-base' national science and technology major projects, supporting the development of mobile phone core technology and mobile phone basic chip components. Guide the National IC Industry Investment Fund to strengthen investment in mobile phone core chips and other areas to guide the development of industrial integration.
New products are difficult to help turn over
Even if the market share of Chinese smartphones drops to 1%, Samsung still has hope for the Chinese market.
On the evening of August 15, Samsung Electronics released the Samsung Galaxy Note9 new product in Shanghai. China is the second stop after Samsung released the flagship new product in the world after New York. The importance of the Chinese market is obvious.
Gao Dongzhen, president of Samsung's mobile communications division, said that China is one of Samsung's most important strategic markets.
However, with the Galaxy Note9, the possibility of Samsung turning over in the Chinese market seems to be minimal.
Liu Qicheng said that Samsung has come to China to develop a cloth conference after the release of Galaxy Note9 in the United States, which means that it does not want to give up such a big market in China, but with the rise of Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and VIVO, these four mobile phone brands are more expensive than Samsung. The service to users is also better than Samsung, which has a strong substitution effect on Samsung.
From the Galaxy Note9 product itself, it does not seem to achieve the 'stunning' effect. From the network analysis Galaxy Note9 compared with the previous generation Note8, the change is not particularly large. Liu Qicheng also said that Note9 has not improved on the basis of Note8 So big.
The pen, known as the biggest highlight, the remote-controlled S Pen (supporting Bluetooth, allowing users to interact more with the phone), its subversiveness remains to be verified.
Sun Yanxi, dean of the first mobile phone industry research institute, believes that the innovation of S Pen in Samsung Galaxy Note9 is a change in user habits, and the development of users using mobile phone habits is a long-term process.