That has been what I've been told as well. OTOH, China factories do seem to have a problem with making near useless items if no one holds their feet to the fire. I think of some power supplies in Chinese gear I've looked at. If a device will see 1 watt or .95 watts, they will put a a 1 watt rated device in it. They do that all the way thru. Just basic rule of thumb would be to use a 2 watt device in that situation. Such an item will work, some of them surprisingly last some time. Most of them are not going to last very long. While using those with a simple rule of thumb safety factor will last a very long useful time. If the Chinese facility had a recognized name with value they would not stoop to this to make money. When they are insulated from that, they have no reason to do otherwise. It pains me that those selling this gear elsewhere don't do their homework, and see they don't mind selling such products.
Yet China can make some very good top level gear when the customer commissions it.
Exactly this. Subcontract manufacturing is so totally price-competitive that subcontractors, regardless of country, will meet the commissioners' specifications and no more. As Blumlein said above, if the device dissipates 0.95 watts, I watt rated components will be used unless the purchaser specifies otherwise, and pays the higher price.
Whether Chinese, Korean, Malaysian or whoever, with subcontracting you totally get what you pay for, or at least, what you specify (and pay for). If you want top quality, longevity, reliability, these factories are perfectly capable of producing it, but at a price that might render your brand uncompetitive if you're selling through an essentially commodity market like Amazon or other on-line retailers where there isn't a salesman to persuade a prospective buyer of the benefits. I also wonder whether all subcontractors are ethical and will actually use the higher rated components specified or is it necessary to do one's own QA before the goods are shipped.
I can totally understand the attitude of US or European brands that either move completely upmarket to support on-shore manufacturing, or if they want to remain in the mainstream market, set up their own factories in China, Malaysia etc so they can control quality.
S.