Samsung Electronics Co, the biggest seller of smartphones in China, was criticized by the state-run national broadcaster for offering handsets that allegedly malfunction dozens of times a day because of faulty memory chips.
The Galaxy S and Note series handsets are crashing as many as 30 times a day and the chips need to be upgraded, according to China Central Television’s (CCTV) Economic Half-Hour program, which cited a mobile phone repairman it did not identify.
Samsung said it is committed to the highest quality.
The world’s biggest smartphone maker joins Apple Inc, Volkswagen AG and Starbucks Corp in being scrutinized by state-run media for their operations in China, the second-largest economy.
Samsung, the world’s largest producer of handsets, sells at almost 5,000 locations in China and had 18 percent of the market in the June quarter, according to Canalys.
“It seems like China is bashing some big foreign brands in turns,” said Lee Do-hoon, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd in Seoul. “The reason behind all this may be because the Chinese government wants to protect the local companies.”
Samsung has identified the source of the problem as software and said customers can download a firmware patch or visit an authorized repair outlet for free service, CCTV reported.
“We remain committed to providing the highest quality products and services,” Chenny Kim, a spokeswoman for Samsung, said yesterday. “Upon verification of these reports, including their technical aspects, we will respond accordingly.”
China accounted for 14 percent of Samsung’s consolidated sales last year, compared with 29 percent for the Americas and 25 percent for Europe, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Samsung’s leading share of China’s smartphone market in the second quarter outpaced the largest local handset makers in the next five spots: Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想); China Wireless Technologies Ltd’s Coolpad (酷派); ZTE Corp (中興); Huawei Technologies Co (華為); and Xiaomi Corp (小米), according to Canalys.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last