It won’t be surprising that most of the world will now use a smartphone, whether it’s from Apple, Samsung, Huawei or one of the other many manufacturers globally, and the good news for Turkey’s future economy is that several companies are now looking to Turkey as the ‘next best placed’ country to increase production & research.
Notably in recent days, Oppo and Samsung have both announced production will start around March 2021, and in order to facilitate this as efficiently as possible, a site for Oppo’s production has already been bought in the Tuzla district with an investment quoted at around $50m once you take into account into the land, the building and the personnel.
Samsung’s operation will be from Esenyurt and they have reportedly invested a similar sum to their Chinese counterparts, but whereas Oppo will be using their own staff to carry out the entire production process, Samsung will be using an Istanbul based subcontractor.
Like with many countries, it’s the youth who are driving this change becoming more tech savvy in the process, with many institutions having to look for alternatives to expensive imports, meaning the final product can be cheaper for the end consumer. Last year for example $6bn was spent on importing smartphones, but this could be reduced significantly if the target of 25% of the 12 million smartphones sold this year, were produced in Turkey.
It’s worth noting too that two of Turkey’s own smartphone companies, General Mobile & Casper, also make smartphones, and their method of assembling parts, rather than producing their own models, is set to change due to the increased investment from competitors. There is word that they too will start to produce their own model, of which every stage of the production will be Turkish!
