Samsung had to unexpectedly shut down its smartphone manufacturing plant located in Gumi, some 200 kilometers south of Seoul, South Korea. While the majority of Samsung smartphones are manufactured in Vietnam, the Gumi factory is responsible for its most premium devices, the Galaxy Fold and the newly released Galaxy Z Flip.
While the shutdown was only implemented for the weekend and the factory is set to open today, there were concerns that the shutdown could cause supply issues for the new foldable smartphone. Samsung is confident that this won't be the case.
Samsung factory shutdown won't impact Galaxy Z Flip supplies
Samsung shut down the Gumi factory after a confirmed case of the coronavirus. Local reports reveal that a female employee who worked on the smartphone line was diagnosed with the virus on Saturday morning. Samsung immediately moved to shut down the plant and notified all employees that the Gumi factory would remain closed until Monday, February 24.
That employee has since been quarantined while Samsung is also having other workers tested for a possible infection. The company has conducted disinfecting procedures across the entire factory over the weekend and has restricted access to the floor where the infected employee worked until Tuesday, February 25.
The company has said in a press release that the “temporary shutdown” of its Gumi plant isn't going to have a wide impact and that it has the situation “properly under control.” It obviously won't have a large impact on Samsung's smartphone business since the Gumi plant is only used to manufacture the Galaxy Fold and the Galaxy Z Flip, devices that don't nearly sell as many units as its other flagships and mid-rangers.
However, to address concerns that perhaps a supply shortage caused by this shutdown could lead to an increase in prices for the foldable devices, Samsung says that it's not going to increase the price of the Galaxy Fold and the Galaxy Z Flip. To compensate for this shutdown, Samsung is going to keep the production lines operating longer than usual at the Gumi factory this week.
