Another recent report on Samsung’s China business said that the company “plans to handle premium handsets in South Korea, midrange units in India and a variety of models in Vietnam”.
The Samsung Group is one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world, originating from South Korea and with headquarters in Seoul.Of course, that doesn’t mean most of their manufacturing happens there.
Instead, Samsung makes their phones in a few major regions.
Vietnam
Approximately 50 percent of all Samsung phones are made in Vietnam. The percentage is expected to drastically increase after Samsung announced a new $3 billion smartphone factory in Vietnam to rival the competition of emerging smartphone brands.
Samsung currently has two phone factories in Vietnam responsible for producing 120 million devices a year for global distribution. In fact, if you’re in North America or Europe or sourced your Samsung phone from one of them,
chances are it was made in Vietnam.
India
Samsung also makes a significant amount of devices in India, where it operates the country’s largest electronics manufacturing factory.
Its Noida plant reportedly produces about 100 million units per year, mostly manufacturing the Samsung Galaxy M and some Galaxy A phones.
If you’re in India,
chances are your Samsung phone is made in India,
since most of the Samsung Noida factory output is sold locally.
A small percentage of the Samsung phones made in India are also sold in West Asia, Europe and Africa.
South Korea
Despite being a South Korean company,
Samsung only produces eight percent of its devices in South Korea. However—and similarly to Indian production—Samsung smartphones made in South Korea are mainly sold in the local market.
When it comes to international sales and exports,
less than 10 percent of all global distributions of Samsung devices are made in South Korea.
Brazil
It’s the same story for Brazil and Latin America too.
Samsung has a workforce of over 6000 employees in Brazil and has been making phones there since 1999, mostly for the Latin American market.
If you’re getting your Samsung phone from Latin America,
it was likely manufactured in a production facility in Brazil. Samsung has been manufacturing in Brazil since 1999 and has employed over 6000 local workers.
The company manufactures smartphone and home appliances in Manaus and in Campinas, in the state of Sao Paulo.
Still, if the reason why you want to know where Samsung phones are made is because of ethical concerns, you should know that Samsung has a spotty employment record outside of China as well.
Back in 2013, Samsung was sued by Brazil over poor working conditions.
The company was accused of making its employees work up to 15 hours a day, 10 hours on their feet, and sometimes for 27 days straight.
The accusation came after an audit at the Manaus plant, the same one responsible for most of the Samsung phones sold in Latin America.
Indonesia
Indonesia is a fairly recent endeavor on Samsung’s end. The manufacturing process only started in 2015, and they only produce around 800,000 units per year, but it’s mostly to cover the local demand.
This manufacturing trial seems to be working,
making it more likely that Samsung would be investing more in production in Indonesia.