为什么日本的技术如此先进，却无法像中国这样生产制造手机或智能手机？

Joseph Wang
Because smart phones works a lot better with Chinese modes of production and badly with Japanese ones. The opposites is true with cars. Interesting South Korea can do both.

因为智能手机更适合中国的生产模式，而不适合日本的生产方式。相反，汽车则更适合日本的生产模式。有趣的是，韩国却能两者兼顾。

The way stuff gets produced in Shenzhen is that you have hundreds of small factories producing smartphones. It turns out that with the right parts someone that knows that they are doing can singlehandedly put together a smartphone. I can build my one smartphone and set up a smartphone company. I can't build own car or jet aircraft.

深圳的生产方式是：数百家小型工厂在生产智能手机。事实证明，只要有合适的零部件，一个懂行的人甚至可以独自组装出一部智能手机。我可以自己组装一部手机，并创办一家手机公司。但我无法自己造一辆车或一架飞机。

Most if these phonesend up with Darwinian evolution in action. Someone that puts together a phone faster can win, and if you put together a bad smart phone, no big deal. You have thousands of small phones companies figuring out electronics with trial and error and Darwin wins.

这些手机最终形成了“适者生存”的达尔文式进化。谁组装得更快，谁就能胜出；即使你做出了一部糟糕的手机，也无伤大雅。成千上万的小型手机公司通过试错法不断摸索电子产品的规律，最终优胜劣汰。

You can't build cars or airplanes by trial and error. Exploding cars or airplanes are bad, and for that you need large complicated companies with a lot of consensus based planning and this works with Japanese and South Korean economic structures.

但你不能用试错法来造汽车或飞机。爆炸的汽车或飞机是灾难性的，因此需要大型、复杂的公司进行高度共识化的规划，而这正符合日本和韩国的经济结构。

The one thing this does not explain is why South Korea can do both cars and smartphones. The big difference between Korea and Japan is that while both have big companies, Korean companies are family based which means that someone can make decisions quickly and so they can do high end smartphones.

这一点无法解释的是，为什么韩国既能造好车又能做好手机。韩国与日本的关键区别在于：虽然两国都有大企业，但韩国企业是家族式经营，这意味着决策可以非常迅速，因此他们能够快速推出高端智能手机。

Cody Lussy
China didn’t develop anything. Western countries foolishly sent their phone manufacturing to China to save money.
So while China didn’t developed any of the technology, they ended up being the one to assemble everything.
But over time — due to no concern for IP theft — home grown Chinese companies started building ClonePhones of the brands that were being manufactured in China. And now China has a thriving cell phone industry.
It used to bother me that China would steal others IP then make their clones. But then I realized if western brands are so stupid that they’re willing to have their phones made in China, then they deserved to get ripped off. You basically helped to create the monster who ate you.
In fact I feel the same way any western brands get ripped off by Chinese clones. If those companies also make their stuff in China, then what do they expect?

中国并没有开发任何技术。西方国家愚蠢地为了省钱，主动把手机制造转移到了中国。
因此，虽然中国并未开发核心技术，但他们最终成了所有手机的组装者。
但随着时间推移，由于中国对知识产权保护不严，本土企业开始模仿在华生产的国际品牌，制造“山寨手机”。如今，中国已拥有了一个蓬勃发展的手机产业。
过去我曾对中国Q取他人知识产权、制造克隆手机感到不满。但后来我意识到，如果西方品牌愚蠢到愿意把自己的手机交给中国生产，那他们活该被“山寨”。你实际上是在帮助制造一个最终吞噬你的“怪物”。
事实上，我对任何在西方品牌将生产外包给中国后被“山寨”的情况都持同样看法——如果你自己把生产放在中国，那你还指望什么？

Jack Fish
If you have ever noticed, the Japanese are competent but not competitive, in the sense that they don't rush to release a competing product or knockoff just because Apple announced an iPhone. A high level of discipline and the strong belief in innovative originality is what contributes to their cultural strength.

如果你注意过，日本人技术上很优秀，但缺乏竞争性。他们的特点是不会因为苹果发布了iPhone就立刻推出竞争产品或仿制品。高度的纪律性和对原创创新的坚定信念，构成了日本的文化优势。

Japan could have released a product competing with the iPhone as soon as Steve Jobs made an announcement but they didn't. The South Koreans on the other hand were a competitive lot. They wasted no time, going into the design room to make a knock-off which was better looking than the iPhone. I don't hate the iPhone, but the Samsung was better looking and cheaper. If you were around when the Samsung was released you probably know about the lawsuit filed against them by Apple in connection with infringements of some sort. Samsung paid the settlement fine, but they had won the market. Samsung became a craze around the globe, a cheaper alternative to the iPhone.

日本本可以在史蒂夫·乔布斯宣布iPhone后立即推出竞争产品，但他们没有。而韩国人则极具竞争意识。他们毫不拖延地冲进设计室，迅速制造出外观比iPhone更漂亮的“仿制品”。我并不讨厌iPhone，但三星手机确实更好看、更便宜。如果你经历过那个时代，你一定知道苹果后来对三星提起了侵权诉讼。三星支付了赔偿金，但他们已经赢得了市场。三星风靡全球，成为比iPhone更便宜的替代选择。

If you have ever been in a Samsung shop, they have smartphones for all budgets. So that cheapskate Joe who wants an iPhone but won't buy it because of the price tag will go for a Samsung. But wait - I have never seen an ugly Samsung. They are all good looking.

如果你去过三星专卖店，你会发现他们有面向各种预算的智能手机。那些想要iPhone但嫌贵的“性价比”顾客，最终会选择三星。但等等——我从未见过难看的三星手机，它们全都设计精美。

Japan is the guy who believes in unique home grown innovations that exceed world standards. They don't chase mass consumerism and global trends for cashing in boatloads of money. This disciplined spirit of innovation is why they are leaders in electronics and automotive engineering. They make high quality durable products.

日本更像是那种相信“本土原创创新必须超越世界标准”的国家。他们不追逐大众消费主义和全球潮流来赚大钱。这种有纪律的创新精神，正是他们在电子和汽车工程领域领先的原因。他们制造的是高质量、耐用的产品。

Lalit Patel
China has a huge infrastructure for producing plastics products.
Japan has a huge infrastructure for producing metallic products.
China is better off producing smartphones.
Japan is better off producing cars.
Division of labor!

中国拥有庞大的塑料制品生产基础设施。  
日本则拥有强大的金属制品生产基础设施。  
因此，中国更适合生产智能手机，  
日本更适合生产汽车。  
这就是产业分工！

Fred Chuatiuco
Know this, Japan defined the industry from the onset:
1979: 1G Mobile phone was pioneered by NTT with the introduction of mobil phone service in Tokyo as a car phone.
1993: 2G Mobile phone is NTT Docomo’s digital mobile phone service with TDMA called Personal Digital Cellular.
2001 3G Mobile phone service again introduced by NTT Docomo using W-CDMA technology called FOMA.
But in 1985, the Plaza Accord happened. Japan just got punched, lost its way and never recovered since!!!

要知道，日本从一开始就定义了这个行业：
1979年：NTT率先推出1G移动电话，在东京推出车载电话服务。  
1993年：NTT Docomo推出2G数字移动电话服务，采用TDMA技术，称为“个人数字蜂窝”（PDC）。  
2001年：NTT Docomo再次率先推出3G移动电话服务，采用W-CDMA技术，名为FOMA。
但1985年发生了“广场协议”。日本被一拳击倒，从此迷失方向，再未恢复！

During Japan’s bubble and zombie years of the 90s, Japan was the king on the hill:
Japan had 100 million users of advanced 3G smartphones, twice the number used in the United States, a much larger market. Many Japanese rely on their phones, not a PC, for Internet access.
Japan was the most advanced in the world and years ahead in any innovation
e-mail capabilities in 1999,
camera phones in 2000,
third-generation networks in 2001,
full music downloads in 2002,
electronic payments in 2004。

在90年代日本的泡沫与“僵尸经济”时期，日本曾是世界的巅峰：
日本拥有1亿用户使用先进的3G“智能手机”，是美国用户数量的两倍，而美国市场要大得多。  
许多日本人依赖手机而非电脑上网。  
日本在全球创新方面遥遥领先：  
1999年实现邮件功能，  
2000年推出拍照手机，  
2001年部署3G网络，  
2002年实现完整音乐下载，  
2004年实现电子支付。

But Japanese manufacturers in the 2010s, after flooding the world with cars and advanced electronics, found themselves not able to sell their mobile phones to anyone!
They labelled this their Galápagos syndrome - ascribing Japan’s cellphones akin to the endemic species that Darwin encountered on the Galápagos Islands — fantastically evolved and divergent from any where else in the world that they couldn’t adapt nor be accepted.

但在2010年代，日本制造商在向全球倾销汽车和先进电子产品之后，却发现自己的手机根本卖不出去！
他们将这种现象称为“加拉帕戈斯综合征”——将日本手机比作达尔文在加拉帕戈斯群岛上发现的特有物种：进化得极为独特，与其他地方完全不同，以至于无法适应或被外界接受。

Japanese manufacturers just had difficulty marketing their phones overseas. In 2009, out of all Japanese handset manufacturers, Sony Ericsson sold the most handsets worldwide (after non-Japanese Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics and Motorola); domestically, Sharp sold one quarter of the Japanese market, followed by Fujitsu, Panasonic, NEC and Kyocera.

日本制造商难以将手机推向海外市场。2009年，所有日本手机制造商中，只有索尼-爱立信在全球销量最高（排在诺基亚、三星、LG电子和摩托罗拉之后）；在日本国内，夏普占据四分之一市场份额，其次是富士通、松下、NEC和京瓷。

The only Japanese handset maker with any meaningful global share was Sony Ericsson, a London-based joint venture of Sony with a Swedish telecommunications firm.And then Apple happened! For a domestic market that was completely dominated by Japanese manufacturers since 1979, as of July 31, 2013 there were 139,180,300 mobile phones in use in Japan, but 60% had by then been snagged by Apple.And then there’s China. . . . . Japan actually shielded its technologies from China’s market and allowed Android and Apple, together with South Korean upstarts to get a head-start and take hold there. Japan protected its 120-million consumer market, bypassed a 1.4 billion consumer market and by the time they tried in 2000 to get into the China market, it was just too late.
Japan, after the Plaza Accord just kept stumbling along. . . . . .

唯一在全球拥有显著市场份额的日本手机制造商是索尼-爱立信，而这是一家索尼与瑞典电信公司合资的伦敦公司。
然后，苹果出现了！对于一个自1979年以来一直由日本制造商完全主导的国内市场，截至2013年7月31日，日本共有1.39亿部手机在使用，但其中60%已被苹果拿下。
然后，中国也崛起了……日本实际上曾将自己的技术屏蔽在中国市场之外，反而让安卓、苹果以及韩国新兴企业率先进入并占据主导地位。日本保护了自己的1.2亿消费者市场，却错过了14亿人的中国市场。等到2000年他们试图进入中国市场时，已经太晚了。
日本在“广场协议”之后，就一直在跌跌撞撞……

John Tysoe
Sony is still making smartphones, but tes, most of the others - NEC, Sharp, Panasonic etc - have given up.

索尼仍在生产智能手机，但没错，其他大多数公司——如NEC、夏普、松下等——已经退出了手机市场。

The smartphone business not just about technology; manufacturing volume is also important and here, Japan has been on the back foot ever since 2G, when it chose to adopt a different “standard” to the rest of the world. Japanese manufacturers were convinced their PDC technology was superior to both GSM and the US cdMaone and waited, in vain, for the rest of the world to get in step. That never happened, so the Japanese industry never really got its foot in the door.
They are not alone. The list of western manufacturers who have stopped making phones is impressively long and includes giants of the Telecom industry, such as Alcatel, Ericsson and Motorola, amongst others.

智能手机行业不仅仅关乎技术，生产规模同样重要。在这方面，日本自2G时代起就处于劣势。当时日本选择了与世界其他地区不同的通信标准。日本制造商坚信他们的PDC技术优于GSM和美国的cdMaone，因此一直等待世界其他地区跟上他们的步伐。但这一天从未到来，因此日本产业始终未能真正打开国际市场的大门。
他们并非孤例。停止制造手机的西方制造商名单令人印象深刻，其中包括阿尔卡特、爱立信、摩托罗拉等电信巨头。

Jerry Joo
Because Japan is no longer "much more technologically advanced" in the area of cell phones or smartphones (as well as in many other areas of consumer electronics).

因为日本在手机或智能手机领域（以及许多其他消费电子产品领域）已不再“遥遥领先”。

I see that Japan is turning to manufacturing high-tech components for cell phones, while China is taking over manufacturing of the entire phone which is labor-intensive and relatively low-tech. Well, that's not entirely true, especially as we move into 2018.

我注意到，日本正转向制造手机的高科技零部件，而中国则接手了整机制造——这部分工作劳动密集且相对技术含量较低。不过，这并不完全准确，尤其是在进入2018年之后。

According to JEITA[1] Japan's electronic components market has been steadily declining over the past decade while China and South Korea are rising rapidly. In terms of mobile phone components, the Japanese market share is also strongly tied to the iphone, while brands from China and Korea (all top 10 brands except Apple are from China or Korea) make up a much higher percentage of domestic/non-Japanese suppliers.

根据日本电子信息技术产业协会（JEITA）的数据，过去十年中，日本的电子元件市场持续萎缩，而中国和韩国则迅速崛起。在手机零部件方面，日本市场的份额也高度依赖iPhone；相比之下，来自中国和韩国的品牌（全球前十大手机品牌中，除苹果外全部来自中韩）更多地使用本土非日本供应商。

In the cell phone industry, cell phone manufacturers actually tend to be much more profitable than component manufacturers. Without its own domestic phone brand cover, Japan has lost ground on the component side. This is especially true for the most profitable components, namely the display panel, SoC, and memory chip. JDI has struggled in recent years, Sharp has packed and sold, Toshiba memory has been sold, and Japan has yet to participate in mobile SoC manufacturing. This all came at a time when Samsung was dominating the market, and China was starting to invest like there was no tomorrow in the high-end fab line for display/memory chips.

在手机行业中，手机制造商通常比零部件制造商更赚钱。由于缺乏自己的本土手机品牌支撑，日本在零部件领域也逐渐失势。这一点在利润最高的核心部件上尤为明显，即显示屏、SoC（系统级芯片）和内存芯片。近年来，JDI（Japan Display Inc.）经营困难，夏普被收购出售，东芝存储业务也被转手，而日本至今尚未涉足移动SoC的制造。与此同时，三星正在主导市场，而中国则开始以前所未有的力度投资高端显示/存储芯片的晶圆厂建设。

In terms of chip designs related to mobile phones and wireless technology, Japan is also far behind China, and the gap is widening every year. China has the main SoC and baseband cores, players are developing their own phones, Japan has none. China (as well as Korean, US and European players) is investing aggressively in 5G technology, Japan is doing it too but its efforts are not to the same extent.

在与手机和无线技术相关的芯片设计方面，日本也远远落后于中国，且差距逐年扩大。中国拥有主要的SoC和基带核心，企业正在自主开发手机，而日本则没有。中国（以及韩国、美国和欧洲企业）正在大力投资5G技术，日本虽然也在投入，但力度远不及这些国家。

While Japan owns Softbank which buys ARM's majority stake (it provides CPU and GPU architectural designs for mobile), it's not the same as ARM is now a Japanese technology. UK-based ARM is still a company with no plans to move talent or technology to Japan. Renesas Electronics is a major Japanese-owned ic design company, but its focus is on automotive electronics and smaller ic controllers than the most important mobile phones.

尽管日本软银收购了ARM的多数股权（ARM为移动设备提供CPU和GPU架构设计），但这并不意味着ARM的技术就属于日本。总部位于英国的ARM仍是一家公司，没有计划将人才或技术转移到日本。瑞萨电子（Renesas Electronics）是日本主要的IC设计公司，但其重点是汽车电子和小型控制器芯片，而非最重要的手机芯片。

Yes, Japan still excels in several areas. Sony's imaging sensors are still dominant, but even high-end smartphone sensors are less than $10 compared to the phone's overall material cost, so it has limited revenue potential despite consuming a large market share. These companies may have a major impact on the Japanese economy. So I say that Japan is a major component supplier in the mobile phone industry at the moment, but the prospects are good except in a few small areas. The main reason is simple: you can't keep ahead in technology if you don't maintain a major presence in the market.

是的，日本在某些领域仍然表现出色。索尼的图像传感器依然占据主导地位，但即使是高端智能手机传感器，单价也不到10美元，相对于整机材料成本而言，其收入潜力有限，尽管市场份额很高。这些企业可能对日本经济有重大影响。因此，我认为目前日本仍是手机行业的重要零部件供应商，但在少数几个小领域之外，前景并不乐观。主要原因很简单：如果你不在市场中保持重要地位，就无法持续引领技术发展。

The semiconductor industry is at the core of today's high-tech consumer electronics products, and is highly capital intensive. A single factory that generates billions of US dollars to build, and all plans to build 20+ of them in the next 3-4 years. Only a few dominant global players, sometimes coupled with national-level strategic investments, are able to acquire and maintain this infrastructure. Without the right economies of scale, there is a balance between the cost and abundance of human talent, and the disposition to produce for the world market, there is no way to play this game. Japan has yet to show its game, while South Korea and China have. As a result, Japan has lost its technological advantage in this area.

半导体产业是当今高科技消费电子产品的核心，资本密集度极高。一座工厂的建造成本高达数十亿美元，而一些企业计划在未来三到四年间建造20多座这样的工厂。只有少数全球主导企业，有时还需配合国家级战略投资，才能获得并维持这种基础设施。如果没有合适的规模经济、成本与人才供给之间的平衡，以及面向全球市场生产的意愿，就无法参与这场竞争。日本至今尚未展现出这种能力，而韩国和中国已经做到了。因此，日本在这一领域失去了技术优势。

Robert Vannrox
Why? It’s primarily because it’s a myth that Japan is advanced. Fax machines are still a thing as is cash.
Technology is NOT more advanced in Japan. They still use FAXes in Japan. They still use paper money. Why anyone would believe that Japan is technologically advanced is really living three decades ago.
You go out of Tokyo and it can be like stepping back to the 1960s with full service petrol stations terribly narrow roads.
Hell loads of Japanese homes still use kerosene heaters while even places like the UK got gas central heating in the 1980s and 1990s.

为什么？主要是因为“日本很先进”这个说法本身就是夸大其词的“神话”。传真机在日本仍在广泛使用，现金也是。
日本的技术并没有更先进。他们还在用传真机，还在大量使用纸币。任何相信日本科技先进的想法，都像是活在三十年前。
你只要离开东京，就会感觉像回到了1960年代——到处是人工服务的加油站和狭窄的道路。
天啊，很多日本家庭还在用煤油取暖器，而像英国这样的地方早在八九十年代就已经普及了集中供暖。

Eugene Chia
They actually still do. I was in Tokyo earlier this year, and at big electronics stores like Yodabashi or Yamada you still see a significant portion of electronics made in Japan. That includes things like smartphones and laptops.
I would seriously live in this store. It’s awesome.
Some of them are from brands that you’d be hard pressed to find outside of Japan, like Sharp, Kyocera, Panasonic, Vaio, etc.
The next thing you’ll notice, however, is that those Japan-made devices are expensive. Like, really expensive. They’re very nice devices, but… yeah, given that they’re that expensive even in their country of origin you can imagine how much they’d cost if exported.

他们实际上仍在生产。今年早些时候我去过东京，在Yodobashi或Yamada这样的大型电器商店，仍然能看到大量日本本土制造的电子产品。其中包括智能手机和笔记本电脑。
我真想住进这家店，太棒了。
其中一些品牌你在日本以外几乎找不到，比如夏普、京瓷、松下、Vaio等。
但接下来你会注意到的是，这些日本制造的设备非常昂贵——真的非常贵。它们确实是很好的产品，但……鉴于在本国都这么贵，你可以想象如果出口会卖多少钱。

The main reason China made stuff does better overseas is it’s simply a lot cheaper to manufacture there.

中国制造的产品之所以在海外更有竞争力，主要原因就是制造成本低得多。



Notorious Raspberry
They do.
The following cell phones are made in Japan for the Japanese:
Sony
Sharp
Fujitsu
Kyocera

他们确实在生产。  
以下这些手机是在日本为日本国内市场制造的：  
索尼、夏普、富士通、京瓷

Mr.wonder
China has a huge mobile phone market and the manufacturing industry grows rapidly in the country.Data shows that as of August 2024, there are more than 1.7 billion mobile phone users in China, around nearly half of them are 5G mobile phone users.In May, more than 30 million mobile phones were sold in China, up over 16 percent.

中国拥有庞大的手机市场，制造业也在迅速发展。数据显示，截至2024年8月，中国手机用户超过17亿，其中近一半是5G手机用户。仅5月份，中国就售出超过3000万部手机，同比增长超16%。

China has many well-known mobile phone companies, such as Huawei, xiaomi, and OPPO.
Their products not only sell well in the domestic market, also have a good market share worldwide.The rapid development of the mobile phone industry first rely on China's strong manufacturing capability.

中国有许多知名的手机企业，如华为、小米和OPPO。它们的产品不仅在国内畅销，也在全球市场占有良好份额。手机产业的快速发展首先得益于中国强大的制造能力。

China is the world's largest producer of consumer electronics products, making more than 751 million units mobile handsets in the first half of the year, up 9.7 percent year-on-year.Among them, smartphones reached 562 million units, up 11.8 percent.
Over half of the provincial level regions are making mobile phones, with most of them in southern China.And ten provinces produced more than 10 million units.

中国是全球最大的消费电子产品生产国，今年(2024年)上半年生产了超过7.51亿部手机，同比增长9.7%。其中智能手机达5.62亿部，同比增长11.8%。全国超过一半的省级行政区都在生产手机，主要集中在中国南方。有十个省份的产量超过1000万部。

Science and technology innovation, supply chains and efficient transportation network all contributed to the growth of the mobile phone sector in China.
As a result, these factors also give Chinese mobile phone producers advantages in lowering costs.

科技创新、供应链体系和高效的交通网络共同推动了中国手机行业的发展。这些因素也使中国手机制造商在降低成本方面具备优势。

Rio M
In fact, Japan manufacturers do so for years. About 2004, Panasonic(Vaio),Kyocera and Mitsubushi, the 3 brands’ mobiles were in China market.But, there are 2 main reasons that Japan companies exit China and other markets,
1 They like to buy components from Japan manufacturers, so the cost is higher than the market.
2 At least, in China market, all decisions are from Japan, not from China, so the decisions can’t match China market better.

事实上，日本制造商多年来一直在这么做。大约在2004年，松下（Vaio）、京瓷和三菱这三大品牌的手机曾进入中国市场。但日本企业退出中国及其他市场主要有两个原因：
1. 他们倾向于从日本本土采购零部件，导致成本高于市场平均水平。  
2. 至少在中国市场，所有决策都来自日本总部，而非本地团队，因此无法更好地适应中国市场的需求。

So, nowadays, Japan brands,mobile phones/laptops/etc. most consumer products, they lose the competitions to China counterpart.
Similar stories also include South Korea Samsung,US Ford and GM, but Samsung/Ford/GM are both not the points for this topic.

因此，如今日本品牌的手机、笔记本电脑等消费电子产品，在与中国的同类产品竞争中落败。
类似的情况也发生在韩国三星、美国福特和通用汽车身上，但这些品牌不属于本话题的重点。

Jimmy Qu
Japan manufacturing many phones before. But after China take over the role, it’s not economical competitive for Japan to manufacture phones at this stage.
They could have patent phones and design some phones.
You are not looking at labour cost only in manufacturing, but also raw materials, the whole supplier location, the industry to make those plastic shells, glass, all counts.
If you like Japan’s product, you could buy those full frx Canon cameras.

日本过去确实制造了很多手机。但在中国接手这一角色后，现阶段对日本来说，制造手机已不再具有经济竞争力。  
他们仍可以拥有手机专利并设计一些机型。  
制造成本不仅仅包括人力，还包括原材料、整个供应链的位置、生产塑料外壳和玻璃的配套产业，所有这些因素都很关键。  
如果你喜欢日本产品，可以考虑购买佳能的全画幅相机。

SANSHI
I think they just can not beat China!
and they will back to the position in history ! as they always do !!!

我认为他们根本无法打败中国！他们将重回（和一个小国匹配）的历史地位！一如既往的！