The Coronavirus epidemic continues to wreak havoc across the smartphone industry. It was the reason why MWC 2020 got canceled, and OnePlus almost moved its event online, although the company said that is will still go ahead with the physical launch. Now, Galaxy Z Flip shipments could be affected, as the sole factory that manufactures it just shut down due to the Coronavirus-related issues.
Galaxy Z Flip is manufactured in a city near the Chinese border
Samsung has been steadily moving its production away from Chinese factories, partially because the Chinese have 'borrowed' some of their display technology. The Galaxy Z Flip is a one-of-a-kind foldable, and Samsung wouldn't risk manufacturing it outside of Korea. The Moto Razr counterpart and the original Galaxy Fold are manufactured in the city of Gumi, which is only 200 kilometers away from the Chinese border.
A Korean news outlet reports that one employee working in the Gumi factory was infected with the Coronavirus. In a bid to contain the infection, everyone who has come in contact with the said employee has also been quarantined. Furthermore, the immediate vicinity of the person's workplace has also been quarantined. Samsung will sterilize the area over this weekend, after which workers will have to adhere to enhanced safety and hygiene practices such as wearing a mask at all times, avoiding handshakes, and conducting business over video calls instead of face to face.
The country already has over 400 people afflicted by the illness and will do whatever it takes to keep that number low. Even though Samsung claims that the temporary shutdown won't affect the Galaxy Z Flip's production run, it will still make a dent in the number of foldable phones it ships. The Galaxy Fold, despite its numerous flaws, is still selling fairly well. Besides, who is to say that this won't happen again, but this time at a Galaxy S20 production facility. Global smartphone shipments are already projected to go down to several manufacturing units being based in China's quarantine zone, and things will only get worse.
News Source: sammobile
