It looks like the consumer shopping spree that followed the covid lockdowns is over. Financial experts around the world are predicting a global recession, and the smartphone market has also been experiencing a downturn for some time. In response, Samsung has scaled back smartphone production at its key factory, according to a new report.
While Samsung expects its smartphone sales to stagnate or grow in the single digits for the rest of the year, its smartphone production plans in Vietnam say otherwise. According to an exclusive report by the agency Reuters Samsung has cut production at its Vietnamese smartphone factory in the city of Thai Nguyen. Samsung has one more smartphone factory in the country, and the two together produce around 120 million phones a year, roughly half of its total smartphone production.
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Various workers at the said factory say the production lines are running only three or four days a week, compared to six previously. Overtime is out of the question. However, Reuters notes at this point that it does not know if Samsung is moving part of its production outside of Vietnam.
In any case, almost all factory workers interviewed by the agency say that Samsung's smartphone business is not doing well at all. It is said that smartphone production reached its peak at this time last year. Now, it seems, everything is different - some workers say they have never seen such low production. Layoffs are not out of the question, although nothing has been announced yet.
Other global technology companies, such as Microsoft, Tesla, TikTok or Virgin Hyperloop, have already announced layoffs. Others, including Google and Facebook, have indicated that they will also need to cut staff due to reduced consumer spending and a slowing global economy.
