As Samsung tries to keep up with competitors offering lower-cost products, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, the company has resorted to a "serious" plan to use China to make a fifth of its smartphone production next year.
Samsung, which shut down its last Chinese smartphone factory in October, is quietly relocating some Galaxy A models to contractors such as WingTech, who are not known outside China.
Samsung is not speaking out about the quantities to be transferred, but sources said the South Korean technology giant plans to ship about 60 million Chinese-made phones next year, out of a total of about 300 million devices.
WingTech and other OEMs are making phones for many brands, such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo, in large quantities that allow them to keep costs low, and skilled contractors can quickly develop and produce new cheap phones.
But critics of Samsung's strategy say it puts itself at risk of losing quality control, weakening its manufacturing expertise from outsourcing, and may even help competitors by giving contractors the extra size they need to further cut costs.
And Samsung is subject to another quality problem, it canceled its flagship model "Galaxy Note 7" in 2016 after reports that expensive phones are on fire, and also postponed the launch of its folding phone this year after the discovery of screen defects.
