Agree that the 2016 THAAD brouahaha probably wasn't a major factor. Samsung reached #1 in China smartphones sales in 2013 and already quickly dropped to a smal

Agree that the 2016 THAAD brouahaha probably wasn't a major factor. Samsung reached #1 in China smartphones sales in 2013 and already quickly dropped to a small single digit a few years later well before the THAAD crisis kicked in 2016. I think it's convenient to blame THAAD for the souring relation between South Korea and China, but it's really ex post facto. I think it's partly b/c many still refuse to believe that Samsung was forced out by China to make room for domestic smartphones makers such as Huawei, Oppo, etc.. as part of their well planned industrial policy to protect and nurture their own domestic competitors. The company managed to remain #1 in globally well over a decade now in spite of this. There were also other South Korean companies such as Hyundai/Kia who once topped Chinese auto market with 10% of the market share, now down to a dimunitive number -- their global rank increased from #5 to #3, only after VW and Toyota during the same period that they were outsted. As pointed out in the article, Apple bribed $275+B their way to stay in the game.