Samsung to manufacture less than 300 million smartphones in 2023
13% lower than its 2022 plan
Samsung Electronics is planning to manufacture 290.68 million units of smartphones in 2023, TheElec has learned.
This is 13% of the production target of 334.2 million units it had set near the end of 2021 for this year.
Manufacturers always set a production target around 10% higher than their shipment target __ to have some units for marketing and inventory.
The shipment target for 2023 is 270 million units, slightly higher than the 260 million units Samsung believes it will end up shipping this year.
Out of the 290.68 million units that the tech giant will manufacture next year, the Galaxy S23 series accounted for 32.63 million units. This is similar to the 32.9 million units goal it had set for Galaxy S22.
Out of the 32.63 million units: 14.74 million units (45%) will be Galaxy S23 Ultra; with 12.47 million units (38%) being Galaxy S23 and 5.42 million units (17%) being Galaxy S23 Plus.
Samsung is also planning to manufacture a total of 10.4 million units for its Gen 5 foldable phones launching next year.
More Galaxy Z Flip 5 will be made at 6.86 million units: 3.54 million units will be Galaxy Z Fold 5.
The 10.4 million units goal is 6% higher than the one Samsung had set for Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4, 6.9 million units and 2.9 million units, respectively, for a combined 9.8 million units.
Sources said Samsung was shipping less Galaxy Z Flip 4 than it expected at the current time, hence the more conservative goal for Galaxy Z Flip 5.
Still, the production target for Galaxy S23 and Galaxy Z 5 series combined plus legacy flagship models is set at 60.46 million units __ 21% of its total production target of 290.68 million units.
Flagship models also accounted for 20% of its total production target for 2022. Samsung had said it expected growth from its flagship smartphones in 2023 despite the economic downturn.
Meanwhile, a total of 215.65 million units of the Galaxy A series is to be made next year; the Galaxy M series is set at 9.77 million units. Galaxy A series accounts for 74% of Samsung’s total smartphone production target.