As a consumer, you need to know where your money goes and the companies you support. But while most products have “made in” written clearly on the packaging, it’s harder to pinpoint where a smartphone was made, especially from a global brand like Samsung.
Where Are Samsung Phones Made?
Samsung, or the Samsung Group, is a South Korean electronic manufacturing company with headquarters in Seoul. But just because a business operates from a certain location doesn’t mean they manufacture their products in the same place—or even in the same country.
So, where is Samsung hardware made?
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’s Indian factory, the largest mobile factory, produces over 100 million devices a year. The factories in India mainly produce the Galaxy M and Galaxy A series devices. While the majority of Samsung devices made in India are sold locally, a small percentage is sourced to Europe, Africa, and West Asia.
As for future plans, in 2017 Samsung announced an investment of over $600 million into their Indian factories to double their smartphone production in the area.
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
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.
Samsung takes full advantage of Brazil’s tax laws to sell their phones at affordable prices to other countries in the region.
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.
Taiwan
Samsung has been manufacturing in Taiwan since 1994. It produced around 600,000 units per month in Taiwan, and rates are expected to grow steadily. The most prominent Samsung products made in Taiwan are the Galaxy series and the Galaxy Note series.
But Not China
While Samsung used to manufacture phones in China, it terminated all manufacturing operations in China in mid-2019. So unless you purchase an old model, Samsung smartphones are not made in China.
Samsung’s decision was met with a significant drop in Chinese sales. Now, they make less than one percent of smartphones sold in China. But that’s mostly because Chinese citizens prefer purchasing cheaper devices that were made locally instead of imported.
Knowing the Source
Whether you’re looking to participate in a boycott or support your local economy, knowing where the products you support were manufactured can help.
The price also changes depending on the country of production and how the materials were sourced. Not to mention, you can also use this knowledge to gauge the approximate quality of your purchase depending on the country’s manufacturing policies.