A few weeks back, a report from the Taiwanese media claimed that Samsung decided to temporarily halt Galaxy S20 component orders from Taiwanese suppliers on account of poor sales caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, according to a new report from The Korea Times citing a Samsung official, these early reports were incorrect.
We have never send an official request. The report is groundless, said the official cited by the online publication earlier today. The original report claimed that samsung halted orders from four different Galaxy S20 component suppliers in Taiwan, including lens supplier Largan, and cooling module manufacturer AURAS.
Other industry watchers seemingly agree that halting orders as abruptly as the original report had suggested is improbable. Although there have been only a few incidences of a firm abruptly halting an order, huge OEMs like Samsung conduct a demand forecast months in advance, so it would be unusual for Samsung to halt Galaxy S20 component orders without much notice.
Whatever the case may be, there's no denying the fact that Samsung shipped fewer Galaxy S20 units in Q1 than expected largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with shipment figures falling well below those of the Galaxy S10 series last year. The virus led to various Samsung plants halting their operations, and other reports claim that the company has been using a stockpile of components to resume manufacturing instead of placing new orders.
The Galaxy S20 hasn't been the success story Samsung may have wanted, and although many fans blame a rocky camera experience at launch and the Exynos 990 chipset for these results, other, and arguably bigger factors were at play. The COVID-19 pandemic not only caused factories to temporarily shut down, but physical retail outlets too. Many smartphone buyers have been more careful with their spendings over the past few months, and this is reflected not only in Samsung's flagship sales figures, but the global smartphone market as a whole, which saw a steep decline in demand since the beginning of the year.
