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Samsung Opens World's Largest Phone Factory In India (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the open-for-business dept.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung opened the world's largest mobile phone factory today in Noida, a satellite city of the Indian capital Delhi. The factory will reportedly "double Samsung's Noida unit capacity for mobile phones to 120 million units a year from 68 million units a year." From the report: "The opportunity is just massive," said Faisal Kawoosa, who heads new initiatives at researcher CMR Pvt. "Such a large facility will help Samsung cater to the huge demand in a country of 1.3 billion people where there are only 425 million smartphone users. The Samsung factory will make everything from low-end smartphones that cost under $100 to its flagship S9 model, according to the company. Earlier this year, China's Xiaomi displaced Samsung from the No. 1 smartphone spot in the country, breaking its long-held dominance.

14 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. How Big? by dohzer · · Score: 1

    How big is it?

    1. Re:How Big? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      That's rather a personal question...

  2. Dupe by Escaflowne · · Score: 4, Informative

    Does BeauHD not even read this site before he spams /. with whatever he thinks is interesting? Dupes are bad enough, but it's literally from earlier TODAY.

  3. Smart Move by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    It's a pretty logical move since as the summary says it's the fastest growing mobile market. It'll surely allow Samsung to sell the phones cheaper than if they brought them from abroad. Samsung it's still kind of pricy for what it offers compared to most other Android manufacturers and specially Xiaomi. Since India is such a price sensitive market I'm not sure Samsung will be able to turn the tide.
    I live in Spain and we're richer than the indians but not rich by european standards and still many people buy Xiaomi phones (or BQ a local brand that makes pretty cheap phones too) so as I said, I'm not sure what this will do for Sams.

    1. Re:Smart Move by lkcl · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's a pretty logical move since as the summary says it's the fastest growing mobile market. It'll surely allow Samsung to sell the phones cheaper than if they brought them from abroad.

      there's actually more to it than that. india, like a lot of countries, has a law that requires a foreign company that imports product to match those sales with *70%* locally-manufactured product *within india's borders*.

      it is particularly telling that apple tried to demand an exemption to this law.

      let us imagine for a moment that this law did not exist. or that apple got their way. apple iphones sell for what.. USD $1,000? what do you think would happen if every person in india - all billion-or-so of them - bought an apple iphone every year, just like people do in the West? that's a *TRILLION* dollars A YEAR flooding out of a sovereign nation to a foreign company.

      such an exodus of cash would literally bankrupt the country, wouldn't it?

      so this is why i am working with the IIT Madras and the Shakti Group, to create a libre risc-v processor (http://libre-riscv.org/shakti/m_class/) and it's also - completely independently - why Samsung has invested in this factory. they're taking Indian Law seriously.

      but my feeling is: there's more to it, even than that.

      i don't know if you're aware of this but the cost of living is getting so high in Shenzhen that it's becoming economically less and less attractive to have electronics products manufactured there. apple products being manufactured by foxconn, with an insatiable demand for components in massive volumes, does not help. but also, Western journalists interfering and sticking their noses in, claiming that standards of living are low, when even a few decades ago the parents and grandparents of the people working in the "sweat-shops" would live in the corner of a field, keeping warm at night by sleeping with cows, a pipe in the corner to provide water, and they would LITERALLY STARVE over the winter... ... all that happened is that in the short term there was massive economic disruption to the Shenzhen ecosystem (which immediately pushed up prices), and in the long term Foxconn and other factories were forced to move manufacturing further north, to areas were Western Journalists are not granted visas. this story was one that i heard from some *who worked* at a Foxconn factory, explaining that the standard of living that people have in those factories, with light, and power, and heat, and four walls and a roof (instead of just a roof with no walls) and a bed to sleep on (instead of the ground) and food that they can get from food stalls in the street, 24 x 7 all year round, is a HUNDRED TIMES higher than anything that their parents and grandparents had.

      so that disruption and interference by the West has caused large companies like Samsung to look at countries that have a much bigger economic gap: places where the wages are once again ten to a hundred or more times less than in the West, but where the sheer quantity of people available is overwhelming. India fits that extremely well. the only concern that i have is: will they be able to resist the deleterious effects of economic growth, and will they end up as mind-numbed as the rest of China, Taiwan and the West, with their children unable to hold pencils due to smartphone overuse, and will the population be unable to express or comprehend and read basic human facial expressions due to complete lack of social interaction as they stare at screens instead of *each other*?

    2. Re:Smart Move by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      with their children unable to hold pencils due to smartphone overuse

      This struck me as interesting...

      So, can you use a quill pen? How about clay tablet and stylus? If not, why not?

      Face it, writing by hand is about to become a thing for historical societies. A keyboard is the new "pen and paper", until it's replaced by something better. And "better" doesn't mean going back to pencil and paper (or clay tablet and stylus)....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    3. Re: Smart Move by backslashdot · · Score: 1

      If people are willing to pay $1000 for a smartphone obviously it is providing them more value than the $1000. In other words, they will generate more economic value thanks to having a smartphone than if they didnt have one. The tariffs prevent smartphone ownership and thereby economic and quality of life improvement. You assume that $1000 is worth less than the smartphone, but then you are declarinn your own judgement superior to others.

    4. Re:Smart Move by lkcl · · Score: 2

      with their children unable to hold pencils due to smartphone overuse

      This struck me as interesting...

      So, can you use a quill pen? How about clay tablet and stylus? If not, why not?

      the report, which was linked here on slashdot a few weeks ago, was more worrisome than that. they said that kids who use tablets and smartphones persistently have significantly degraded fine motor control skills in their fingers and hands. they're not even using keyboards, they're pecking and tapping on a capacitive touchpanel.

  4. It's so big.... by Radical+Moderate · · Score: 1

    ...it took two Slashdot posts to cover it!

    --
    Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
  5. Re:This won't work well at all by jrumney · · Score: 2

    I've worked for two different companies that tried manufacturing in India, one in Chennai(south) and another in Lahore (far north).

    Sorry grandpa, but your early 20th century experience just isn't relevant anymore.

  6. Re:This won't work well at all by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    sure it is, nothing has changed over there. 67% of the population is poor using meaningful metrics

  7. Re:This won't work well at all by alok_naik · · Score: 1

    I think the comment refers to the fact that Lahore is no longer a part of India.

    --
    Every time I think I've hit the bottom, someone lends me a shovel.
  8. Come on Beau... by mnemotronic · · Score: 1

    More caffeine.

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  9. Samsung might succeed by spinitch · · Score: 1

    Samsung as a strong brand will be better able to attract ambitious capable staff. Unlike many others that faltered in a very challenging India environment. It will take time, but Samsung can also hedge against China supply chain disruptions. Others will follow trying to attach to the revenue streams. Some companies flushed a lot cash with the dream of striking it big on the India scale and development but lost big as recurring problems consumed $ .