South Korean technology giant Samsung will produce 3 million mobile phones in its new facility in Turkey with the cooperation of a local brand, a Turkish daily reported Friday.
New details have started to emerge about Samsung’s new investment announced in late 2020. Accordingly, the facility will manufacture mobile phones just for the domestic market in the first phase and produce the entire Galaxy A series in Turkey, Milliyet daily reported. Later, Samsung plans to export from the facility to other countries in the region.
Samsung started mobile phone production in Turkey under the brand Sunny within the scope of cooperation with Turkey’s Atmaca Elektronik. The locally manufactured cellphones will enter the Turkish market and are expected to decrease phone prices in Turkey in certain segments. Experts expect that cellphone prices ranging up to TL 2,500 ($359) could fall up to 40% compared to their imported equivalents, while 25% discounts are expected in the middle segment.
According to the report, Turkish and South Korean employees are working together in the facility, with South Korean engineers mainly operating quality control. Raw material delivery is also being provided by Samsung.
Samsung’s partner Atmaca Elektronik is one of Turkey’s largest screen manufacturers and is also the supplier of the world’s tech giants. It manufactures four out of 10 Samsung TVs produced in Turkey and has also worked in cooperation with Philips. As part of the agreement, Samsung’s local phones began production at Atmaca’s facilities in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district, which was established with a $50 million investment in 2005.
With the Turkish government’s efforts to attract foreign investments and make the country a production hub, several other tech giants recently announced new investments in Turkey. Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo invested approximately $50 million and established a facility in northwestern Kocaeli province and intends to export from Turkey, with Europe being the company's main market.
Another Chinese technology giant, Xiaomi, is also preparing to start smartphone production in Turkey during the first quarter of the year, the company said earlier this month. With the $30 million investment, Xiaomi’s new factory will have an annual production capacity of 5 million phones and will also provide employment for some 2,000 people.
