Samsung Electronics has added Brazil as a production base for the Galaxy Z Fold 2, TheElec has learned.
Majority of the units will be produced at the company’s factory in Gumi, South Korea. Around 20% is being planned to be produced at Samsung’s factory in Vietnam.
Starting next month, Brazil will also be allotted some production. Only around thousands of units will be produced by the end of the year.
In total, Samsung is planning to produce between 700,000 to 800,000 Galaxy Z Fold 2s by the end of the year.
Though the volume is small, the South Korean tech giant is attempting to start diversifying its production bases with the production in Brazil as well as to add a new focus on emerging markets Central and South America.
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong personally visited the company’s production sites in Brazil earlier this year.
Samsung adjusts its production plan by a weekly bases and how much Galaxy Z Fold 2 it ultimately produces will depend on the smartphone’s popularity, a person familiar with the matter said.
Market research firm CounterPoint estimates that around half a million Galaxy Z Fold 2 will be shipped this year.
Samsung controls around half of the smartphone market in Brazil.
According to CounterPoint, Samsung has a market share of 38% in South America, followed by Lenovo-owned Motorola’s 15.5% and Huawei’s 12.9%.
Galaxy Z Fold 2 will launch in black and bronze. Samsung is expecting the black version to sell more and is producing more of the color.
The Thome Browne Edition of the Fold 2 will be produced in Vietnam. The first Galaxy Fold was produced entirely in Gumi and the Galaxy Z Flip was produced mostly in Gumi and some of them were made in Vietnam.