Samsung this morning confirmed with Reuters that it has shuttered handset production in China. The move comes as the company continues to struggle in the worlds No. 1 smartphone market.
As we noted in a deeper dive into Chinas smartphone sales back in August, the Korean hardware giant has struggled to maintain a market share in the low single digits. Its not alone, of course; Apple, too, has faced an uphill effort to crack the market, which is dominated by homegrown names, including Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi.
Sales have been driven by a combination of pricing and, in the case of embattled Huawei, patriotic purchasing decisions.
Samsung has slowly phased out production in the country over the past year, suspending operations in some plants, before ultimately pulling the plug altogether. The news follows a similar move by Sony. Apple, meanwhile, is maintaining its production in the country for now.
More recently, Samsung has looked to others countries, including India and Vietnam, which have undercut Chinas production costs. The company will, however, continue selling phones in China, even as it eyes other cheaper locations for manufacturing.