As Foxconn expands its mobile phone production capacity in Zhengzhou, the industry once again focuses on Foxconn's influence on China's mobile phone manufacturing industry. Henan's export data effectively explains why Foxconn is so important and remains a vital component of China's mobile phone manufacturing sector.

Data from Henan Province indicates that in the first half of this year, the province exported 13.95 million mobile phones, generating RMB 56.5 billion in export revenue, a year-on-year decrease of nearly 50%. Henan's mobile phone production capacity has also dropped to fifth among all provinces in China. During the peak period of Foxconn Zhengzhou, Henan ranked second nationally in mobile phone production capacity, underscoring the significant impact of Foxconn's shift of production to India and Vietnam over the past few years.

However, Foxconn is currently significantly increasing its production capacity in Zhengzhou Foxconn. It is reported that it recruited 50,000 employees in just two weeks, offering an hourly wage of RMB 25 and a bonus of RMB 7,500. This translates to monthly earnings of over RMB 10,000 for production line workers, demonstrating Foxconn's substantial support for restoring Zhengzhou Foxconn's production capacity.

In addition, Foxconn has invested RMB 1 billion in Zhengzhou to establish a new business headquarters and expand its new energy vehicle manufacturing operations at Zhengzhou Foxconn. This signifies Foxconn's determination to strengthen Zhengzhou Foxconn's capabilities and genuinely develop its business in Zhengzhou, which undoubtedly serves as a boost for Henan Province and could reverse the continuous decline in mobile phone exports.

The mobile phones exported from Zhengzhou Foxconn are primarily Apple's iPhones. Foxconn is Apple's largest contract manufacturer, and Zhengzhou Foxconn is its main factory for iPhone production. Therefore, Zhengzhou's mobile phone exports are heavily influenced by iPhone contract manufacturing. Recently, due to power shortages in Vietnam, Foxconn has transferred significant production equipment from Vietnam back to China, likely to Zhengzhou, Henan Province.

In addition to Apple's influence, another province that may be affected by foreign mobile phone brands is Jiangxi. In the first half of this year, Jiangxi's mobile phone production surged by 39%, ranking third nationally in terms of production capacity.

Jiangxi's significant increase in mobile phone production capacity may be related to Samsung's decision to outsource a significant portion of its mobile phone production to a Chinese contract manufacturer. It is reported that in 2023, Samsung outsourced over 40 million mobile phones to this manufacturer, and this year it is expected to outsource over 67 million. Notably, this contract manufacturer's factory is located in Jiangxi.

Like Apple and Foxconn, Samsung also shifted its production capacity to Vietnam and India early on, and even more decisively, closed all its mobile phone factories in mainland China. However, Samsung's factories in Vietnam have faced worker strikes and power supply issues, forcing the company to rely on Chinese contract manufacturers for production, which is quite ironic.

The influence of Apple and Samsung on China's mobile phone exports highlights the significant impact of foreign mobile phone brands on China's mobile phone manufacturing. This outcome is partly due to the less-than-ideal overseas performance of Chinese mobile phone companies. Among them, only one company has over 50% of its overseas shipments, reaching over 70%. Most other domestic brands have less than 50%, with several well-known brands relying almost entirely on the domestic market. Consequently, China's mobile phone exports heavily rely on Apple and Samsung.

While China's mobile phone manufacturing has a cooperative and win-win relationship with Apple and Samsung, both companies have attempted to manufacture in Vietnam and India. However, due to low worker productivity and technical skills in these countries, resulting in poor mobile phone quality, and resource constraints in Vietnam, they have had to strengthen their cooperation with Chinese manufacturing. Similarly, Chinese-made mobile phone exports also rely on these two foreign mobile phone companies.