Samsung not shifting phone production to Vietnam as Korea overcomes COVID19

When the COVID19 pandemic first began, South Korea was the country hit the hardest after China. The virus has since caused havoc across the globe while strict measures taken by the South Korean government have enabled the company to put a lid on the situation.

Samsung’s manufacturing facilities had to suffer shutdowns due to confirmed coronavirus cases. At one point, it was reported that the company was planning to shift premium phone production to Vietnam to offset delays at its Gumi plant in South Korea. However, Samsung appears to have given up on that idea as South Korea is now one of the few countries where the COVID19 situation is under control.

Samsung abandons plan to shift premium phone production

The Gumi plant in South Korea is where Samsung’s premium smartphones like the Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip are manufactured. It had to be shut down for a couple of days due to confirmed COVID19 cases. The bulk of its smartphone manufacturing is still done in Vietnam and the company was thinking about temporarily moving the production of these devices to the country as well.

The COVID19 situation in South Korea was much worse at that time so it would have made sense for the company to do that in order to ensure that it could continue to put these phones on the market. The virus had struck not long after the Galaxy Z Flip was launched so it was important for Samsung to ensure a steady supply of its new foldable smartphone.

Reports out of South Korea suggest that Samsung has withdrawn this plan because the situation is now under control in its home country even as the virus causes disruption across the globe. Earlier this week, South Korea reported no locally transmitted cases of the virus, a highly commendable achievement.

If anything, there’s now the expectation that the Gumi plant will be able to plug the production gap for other markets should the pandemic cause disruption at some of Samsung’s other manufacturing facilities across the globe.