According to SamMobile, which cites a source from Korean publication Maeil Business News, Samsung is reducing the amount of phones it plans to produce in 2022 from 310 million to 280 million. In absolute terms, that’s still a large number of phones, but it’s a significant drop from the company’s original target (and from the reported number of phones it and its partners produced last year). There appears to be a pattern among manufacturers of expecting the economy to deteriorate before improving.
The decreased production targets, according to reports, will effect phones across the board, from low-end models to flagships. In some ways, lowering production of its lower-cost phones seems counterintuitive — wouldn’t more people turn to those during a downturn? When you consider that the alternative is not buying a phone at all, it makes sense; individuals looking for low-end phones may not want to buy one until they absolutely have to, and those with high-end phones may be better off retaining them for another year or two.
Samsung isn’t the only corporation dealing with the effects of a lingering pandemic, the Russia/Ukraine conflict (which has forced the company, along with many others, to cease exports to Russia), and rising inflation. Apple is likewise expected to have relatively flat sales this year, as it plans to produce roughly the same amount of phones as it did in 2021, despite the fact that it is likely working on some significant enhancements.
