With less than a month until Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10 is revealed to the world, you’d imagine – quite rightly – that Samsung has already begun production in earnest. However, a new report has indicated that a trade dispute between Japan and South Korea has disrupted production, which could cause delays and shortages.
SamMobile reports that Japan has imposed tough trade restrictions on South Korea, in protest against a ruling from the South Korean Supreme Court. What are those sanctions targeting? Only the semiconductors and mobile displays of which Samsung gets around 90% from Japan:
Local Korean broadcaster JTBC quoted a Samsung official in a report as saying that “This month, Samsung has cut by 10 percent the target production of the Exynos, a mobile processor that will be used for the Note 10,” adding that the missing 10 percent will be produced next month.
Why does this matter? Well, Samsung uses its Exynos-brand processors in most of its smartphones; Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets account for a very small number of phones, in limited markets.
SamMobile reports that Samsung has declined to comment on disruption to the production of its upcoming handset. However, just as with the trade dispute between China and the US (which has impacted Huawei), these issues tend not to be resolved overnight, and it may take some time for this issue to work its way through and out.
The knock on effects are unknown, but could range from anywhere between “none” to delays in Galaxy Note 10 stock being available in some markets, particular in those (such as ours) where Exynos processors are used.
