Samsung to increase smartphone JDM production to 70 million units

Samsung is planning to increase its joint development manufacturing (JDM) of smartphones more than it initially planned this year, TheElec has learned.

The South Korean tech giant is planning to increase the volume of smartphones produced by its Chinese contract makers by 20 million units for a total of 70 million units this year, sources said.

Samsung initially planned to manufacture these 20 million units, the mid-tier Galaxy A04 and A04s series, on its own.

The company initially planned to manufacture, the Galaxy A04 series, 3.1 million units during the third quarter and 8.1 million units during the fourth quarter for a total of 8.1 million units.

For the Galaxy A04s series, it planned to make 5.5 million units during the third quarter and 7 million units during the fourth quarter for a total of 12.5 million units.

In total, Samsung planned to manufacture 20.6 million units of the two series.

Samsung had already planned to use JDM companies for the Galaxy A03, A03s, A03 core and A22 5G series with the aim of manufacturing a combined 49 million units.

Sources said the company was expanding contract production to save costs. It is facing the brunt of competition against Apple on the premium end and Chinese smartphone makers on the mid-end.

Meanwhile, Apple is planning to increase the production of the iPhone 13 Pro models by 10 million units during the second quarter due to high demand.

Samsung has seen its annual shipment of its flagship Galaxy S series drop below 30 million units for 2020 and 2021. This is expected to continue this year for the Galaxy S22 series.