Samsung plans to slash production of its budget friendly Galaxy A lineup by up to 20% in the fourth quarter as memory chip prices continue to climb. A report from Korean news outlet ETNews reveals the tech giant will redirect memory supply toward higher margin Galaxy S and Galaxy Z devices. The pullback risks dragging down total sales volume, giving Apple a rare opening to capture the top spot in global smartphone shipments.
Surging prices for memory and storage chips have squeezed profit margins across the mobile hardware industry over the past year. Samsung initially tried modest retail price adjustments to absorb component costs, but the move proved insufficient to protect baseline profitability. Company managers decided to scale back memory allocations for low cost devices, choosing instead to protect the supply lines for more expensive flagship models.
The production reduction carries serious consequences for the brand retail dominance. The Galaxy A series forms the backbone of Samsung global volume, generating more than 70% of total smartphone shipments. Cutting back assembly lines by up to 20% will reduce retail inventory in key regional markets. This volume drop gives Apple a direct opportunity to overtake Samsung as the worlds leading smartphone vendor by total units shipped.
