Russia's Smartphone Market Leader Samsung Faces Crisis... 'Galaxy S22' Export Halted

Government Decides to Join Russia Economic Sanctions on 25th
Samsung Electronics Begins Pre-Order Sales of Galaxy S22
Additional Supply Expected to Be Difficult for the Time Being

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] As the government decided on the 25th to join economic sanctions against Russia, the export of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S22 series to Russia will be suspended.

Samsung Electronics, the number one in the Russian smartphone market, is also on high alert. Samsung Electronics Russia Corporation plans to stop additional supply for the time being after selling the S22 series, which had been available for pre-order. Last year, South Korea's total exports to Russia amounted to $9.983 billion (approximately 12.0464 trillion KRW), accounting for 1.5% of the total export volume. Among these, wireless communication devices including smartphones accounted for about 0.4% of the total, approximately $43 million (about 51.8 billion KRW). Samsung's smartphones held more than 28% of the entire Russian smartphone market last year.

A Samsung Electronics official said, "Although the proportion of exports to Russia among total mobile phone exports is relatively small, we are monitoring the situation closely and watching carefully."

Meanwhile, on the 24th (local time), the United States intensified strong economic sanctions in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The United Kingdom, a U.S. ally, along with the other major seven countries (G7) and the European Union (EU), also joined the high-intensity sanctions against Russia, and South Korea has announced its intention to participate as well.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.