As we observed in a deeper dive into China’s mobile phone sales back in August, the Korean hardware giant has struggled to retain a market share in the low single digits. It’s not alone, of course; Apple, too, has suffered an uphill effort to break into the market, which is dominated by homegrown names, including Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi.

 

Sales have been driven by a mixture of pricing and, in the case of embattled Huawei, patriotic buying decisions. Samsung has over time phased out manufacturing in the country in the last year, suspending operations in some plants, preceding subsequently pulling the plug altogether. The news follows exactly the same move by Sony. Apple, meanwhile, is sustaining its production in the country for now.

 

More recently, Samsung has gazed to others countries, including India and Vietnam, which have undercut China’s production costs. The company will, however, continue selling phones in China, even as it eyes other cheaper locations for manufacturing.

 

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