Why Almost Every Microwave is Made by the Same Company
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มิ.ย. 2024
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Video written by Adam Chase
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i swear the amount of stock footage this dude uses could be used as a movie
well... this video is like a movie, a small one
Actually, HAI is open about their stock footage supplier. They mentioned it in a past video.
Fwiw, I am feeling kinda done with the stock footage aesthetic! 10 years from now it will look like bell bottoms did in the 80s, or neon colours in the 90s. And then in 20 years it will have its resurgence 😭
That would actually be a cool idea for some art or university-student movie. A movie composed entirely of stock footage.
@@TamagoHead I'm pretty sure their stock footage supplier has sponsored them a bunch of times.
this was way more instructive than i thought it would be. is there one company that makes all the bricks?
No, there are 3 brick making companies
Thats me. its made by an combination of : Dirt, Ant queens, Germanium, plutonium and Blood.
"instructive"? oops, you mean informative
Here is one out of left field ...
The unification church (the moonies) has a near monopoly on the sushi fish trade in america. Church members operate most of the fishing boats, distributors and I believe even a portion of actual retail.
@@benjaminwatt2436 did not ask + thank you nonetheless + have a nice day
“Famousish” -That guy from half as interesting
Putting that on my tombstone
Ah it's the famousish guy!
What an honor 😭
Famous Fish
@@kvxtr glub 🐟
I work in auto parts and this is everywhere, we sell a generic brand of electrical components and a name brand, both are made by the same company but the name brand is often twice the price. Same goes for oil, brake pads, filters, and brake rotors
If you want to REALLY make money, get a current copy of the Hollander interchange manual. You can find out what $25 Chevy part is identical to the $90 Cadillac part.
That's wrong cheap brake pads wear out twice as fast as the cheap ones definitely
Just coz its made by the same company doesnt mean its the same quality tho. Like - the same hairdressers make 5 dollars haircuts and 250 dollars haircuts.
@@ghost307 Last time I priced it, the Hollander was around $25k, so you had better be making a lot of money. 🤣
At least for fluids, the SDS has to squeal on the actual manufacturer.
Where Microwaves are seemingly somewhat cheap even though they are made in a monopoly, glasses are extremely unjustifiably expensive in the Luxottica monopoly.
They are cheap because they are low quality and you'll have to buy one every few years instead of them lasting decades like they used to.
@not a bunch of kids in a trench - please DENOUNCE both that account and "fantastic flavours" to YT for SPAMMING. WE. HATE. BOTS.
@@filonin2 Replacing a $50 microwave every 4 years is a bargain, compared to needing to replace $200 glasses every 2 years because your prescription changed.
The reason why they’re different is mentioned in the video: the microwave manufacturer sells very little directly and luxottica does the opposite, they have the market controlled under their different brands plus the ones they sell to. Both are monopolies, but only one has a monopoly of the market
That's because they're different forms of monopoly. Luxotica is vertically integrated, so they're selling their own products, where as those microwaves are being sold my third parties like GE or Whirlpool abd manufactured by the OEM. GE and all the rest want to be price competitive, so if the OEM was price gouging they could go and find someone else to make microwaves for them since they aren't *that* complex.
And yet, some microwaves allow you to input a secret combination to turn off the sound, and some don't. When in reality all should let you just do it without having to look in the manual or online.
th-cam.com/video/3lUp2C0pS_Y/w-d-xo.html finally it's here
It’s to charge more for some than others. Restrict features otherwise they’d all be the same and the same price. It’s the same with most tech.
Most likely the MAGNETRON is THE SAME, but the design allows for each brand to chose from several FEATURE OPTIONS to "make it theirs", like the features in a BADGE ENGINEERED CAR.
@@syxepop why did you capitalize big words
Just because you have autisum levels to hearing dosnt mean I dont want to know when my food is ready
When I sold appliances it was really, *really* difficult to explain this concept to people. Unless you care about matching the looks of all of your appliances, it will not make a difference. Pick the one that has the features you like at the best price. The only thing harder was explaining that no, the microwave will not explode because it has metal walls with a metal rack on the inside.
So you can turn the microwave on with a metal rack inside?
@@arctic5177 The metal rack probably has the right shape, so that it reflects the microwaves without having spots with high voltage sparking.
If you're good at high frequency electrical engineering you can make your own racks that don't spark.
A microwave without metal walls would be dangerous. The metal reflects the microwaves and keeps them inside the cavity where they heat the food and not out with you.
@@arctic5177 that would be why they’re sold with them.
The danger of putting metal in a microwave is putting too much metal and not enough microwave absorbing stuff (mostly food) that is not protected by metal in the microwave with it. A sealed can of beans, for example, will damage the magnetron and blow a fuse before the beans get hot.
I love having a Panasonic microwave. It actually adjusts the power level when I adjust the power level, instead of turning off and on in some semblance of "adjusting the power level".
(As indicated by the referenced Wirecutter article, Panasonic still makes their own microwaves)
I have a Panasonic tv and absolutely love it. The colours are so good, way better than my Samsung
Agreed, my Panasonic microwave is the best for that adjustable power level. I will only get another Panasonic to replace it when the time comes, my current one is 10 years old and still going strong.
Panasonic is, as far as I know, the only company making inverter microwaves, and they're so much better than normal microwaves. I don't understand why they don't advertise this more
bought a Panasonic rice cooker and an electric kettle because they were both still made in Japan. both are indestructible, which is why when these eventually break in another decade, I won't find another to replace them. just like their plasma TVs...
Yes! The author failed with the one word in his title: Almost
He didn't bother to mention Panasonic's variable power microwave which is wonderful, it is a superior machine for cooking and reheating. It is probably or very close to the most expensive microwave that Walmart stocks at my store locally, and I completely understand the economies of scale. I accidentally destroyed the cheap microwave at work with spilled coffee, but my co-owner didn't want a more expensive Panasonic - they like the idea of being able to press a single button and the single button both starts the oven and adds 30 more seconds, and can be touched multiple times adding 30 seconds per touch, which doesn't have to be all used. And the 1,2 and 3 buttons automagically do that many minutes, 1,2,3 with a single button. I don't think the Panasonic does that. I wish I would have noted when I purchased the Panasonic so that I could judge it longevity. I already have a benchmark for time as to how long it takes for a cup of coffee to go from room temp to not quite boiling, so I will be able to tell if it begins to lose power.
I actually have a Midea brand microwave oven. I was only willing to purchase this totally unknown brand, because (1) only they sell one that fits my actual 16" high space, and (2) I'd learned that they make all the microwaves for all the other companies, so I figured that it would be just as good as any other.
I can guarantee you GE, Samsung, LG, Whirlpool and half dozen other brands had an oven to fit that space. I just replaced my over the range this month and when I plugged my dimensions in I had to spend a couple of hours reading reviews to decide which one-it was a buttload of options 😆
@@LikeSpee i bought the cheapest tiniest microwave i could find. branded hyundai and cost me whopping 20€. works fine no need to spend more. its a plate and makes hot food. Only downside is popcorn bags are too big
Well we can all take our pick of our favourite brand. When the glass plate breaks it's reassuring to know that there will be no big deal replacing it as they are all the same.
@@hillppari I bought a hot air popper for about $20; takes about the same amount of time as microwave bags, without the added butter flavored crude & other additives.
@@hillppari Dang, that is tiny!
Just as an extra kicker, most of these manufacturers will proudly display a "made in the USA" label somewhere on the package so they can pretend that they're one of the few brave businesses not subservient to our Chinese overlords. And this is technically legal, because yes, it was at one point touched in its production before packaging within the border of the United States. I work at a plant that assembles washing machines, and we do that exact same thing despite all but one part (the metal drum that's too large to ship) being made in either China or Vietnam. Goes to show, if you really wanna buy domestic, you have to look for real niche local stuff, because anybody with any economic reach is going to be looking to outsource.
> most of these manufacturers will proudly display a "made in the USA" label
That's because of US laws though. Of course they will if they can!
"What part of the product was made in the USA?"
"The profit!"
Made in China is best
no underwriters lab sticker = fake
Overlords? The consumers caused this problem by choosing to buy things made in China. You could just spend more money on goods that aren't cheap.
There must be more to this than only volume manufacturing. Components like magnetrons & high voltage transformers used in microwave ovens are probably not used in any other consumer product. So there's also the aspect of highly specialised items to be manufactured in volumes for consumer goods.
There also seems to be brand mishmashing with transformers and magnetrons. Strange to see a GE magnetron in an LG.
Magnetrons are also used in radars, their original application, so each country with a large defense budget has factories to make their own. But defense products only have one (legal) direct customer, their own government, which is willing to pay high prices, making them immune to economies of scale.
A lot is around patent expiry as well. 40 to 50 years ago there was still a lot of space for innovation in both of these components, so to make a microwave, you'd have to either develop a new magnetron or transformer or license the patents. As those patents expire, anyone can make them, so you eventually get all companies gravitating towards the ideal design (looking at cost, efficiency, reliability etc.) until everyone settles on the same basic components, and eventually one manufacturer becomes the best at making those products.
Amateur radio operators can make high power microwave transmitters out of microwave ovens, and rewind the transformer to make high current transformers of whatever voltage is desired.
THANK YOU! I can finally speak to my parents and siblings again!
10 years ago when I first moved out on my own I purchased what I thought to be a great GE microwave. My mother was a die hard Black & Decker fan (like I would know that, right!?) We haven't spoken since. But, I've sent them a link to this video and we've began emailing again with hopes that we will soon perhaps even speak on the phone. You may have saved my family! Thank you!
Luxottica is so much worse than just owning all the glasses manufacturing... they also own vision insurance (Eyemed) and they own optical companies like Target Optical, Pearle Vision, and LensCrafters. What happens when you make all the glasses that are sold in all your stores and paid for by your insurance provider? Can you say monopoly?
Thats called vertical integration
how much you pay for a regular(no filters/standard corection like a -1.75 or smth) in the US?
What’s wrong with that?
@@DanRustle it raises prices just for profit profiting on people who need glasses
@@shane_rm1025 plus a monopoly due to having no competitors.
OED is Original Equipment Designer. Which do everything from design to manufacturing for other companies. Their customers can set any specification for the product, and the OED does the rest.
More correctly, that would be Original Design Manufacturer, ODM.
Most likely Adam (the scripter) put that 🥚into Sam's script, but Sam went on and corrected it in editing.
nah bro, OED = Oxford English Dictionary.
which is also manufactured by Midea and owned by Nestle.
with the sub 50 dollar microwaves they more or less just have a catalog, choose this, modify this and that for x bucks.
In case you wondering what "This Montage" was at 4:58.
"The Toyota Camry and the Lexus ES 350 are the same car, both owned by Toyota.
Orbit, Juicy Fruit, Doublemint, Big Red, Hubba Bubba, and 5 Gum are all owned by Wrigley, which is owned by Mars.
Tyson owns Ball Park Franks, Hillshire Farm, and Jimmy Dean.
Friskies, Fancy Feast, and Purina are all owned by Nestle.
Stouffer's, Hot Pockets, Lean Cuisine, DiGiornio, and Buitoni are all also owned by Nestle.
Unilever owns Good Humor, Breyers, Popsicle, Klondike, Magnum, and Ben & Jerry's.
Procter and Gamble own Head and Shoulders, Pantene, Aussie, and Herbal Essences.
P&G also owns Swiffer, Mr.Clean, Febreze, Puffs, Bounty, and Charmin.
Match Group owns Tinder, Match, Hinge, and OKCupid.
There are so many more but it's past midnight and I have to finish this video."
When I worked in China in the early 2000's 1/3rd of the worlds microwave ovens were being built in the Shunde area of Guangdong province. There were multiple factories producing them and Midea was probably the biggest. they were certainly the most innovative - they produced the first steamer/microwave combination that I had seen.
There's a mindset in the US that "Made in China" means low-quality and cheap, thinking that the Chinese started manufacturing stuff (or US companies outsourced to them) at lower cost thanks to cheaper labor and less labor/environmental regulations. That might have been true at first, but now they are actually very good at what they do, come up with a lot of innovations, and produce as good or better quality than the US in many cases.
@@quillmaurer6563 There still is a lot of Chinese trash, though. Chinese manufacturing varies from top-notch to awful, depending on the company.
@@hoixthegreat8359 True. They make whatever they can sell, whether that's high-end stuff or utter junk. But not all of it is junk as many assume.
@@quillmaurer6563 It makes perfect sense, the US was garbage at manufacturing as well at first and it took decades for the US to develop heavy industries and become serious innovators. Now that the Chinese have been manufacturing so much and for so long, it seems they have learned how to stay on the cutting edge of innovation in both manufacturing techniques and quality. But I still think in many ways their primary advantage is the lower wages and environmental standards in Shenzen and similar places.
True. But I never understood this notion of “it’s low quality”. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IF YOU BUY STUFF FOR PENNIES COMPARED TO THE OTHER PRODUCTS??? China has everything from low quality to high quality, all at their respective prices. So being mad that something doesn’t have the best quality when it was the cheapest option is incredibly dumb.
"each of us takes particular pride in our particular microwave brands"
> me not even remembering the brand of my microwave despite having it for four years
Shit, I've got a 20 year old one that I don't remember what brand it is.
Ours is a Panasonic, but I had to stop and think about it.
Is It A Good Idea To Manufacture This? haha ;-)
As someone who has used and destroyed some 50+ microwaves here on TH-cam, I can tell you that certain brands do actually seem to perform drastically different than others.
Even if the most popular models are all _made_ by the same company; my greater-than-average anecdotal experience seems to disprove the idea that they all microwaves _perform_ the same.
(G.E. generally seemed to be one of the 'heartier' brands - FYI)
Who's the best?
@@Jkp1321 G.E. seemed to be the heartiest in our experiments. Sharp also performed well. Hamilton Beach, Magnavox and other brands kind of sucked, haha.
Just because they're all made by the same factory doesn't mean they're all made to the same specs.
without having done any research into this I can think of potential reasons that you still notice a difference
* maybe Midea has a few models (eg say a different model for each common wattage of microwave oven) with different electrronics inside
* if they all had identical electronics then it is likely that the difference is in the firmware, so maybe Midea allows the brands to customize\tweak the firmware\programming of the microwave
The magnetrons are essentially the same, but the power supply, electronics, display, mesh, and geometry are all different. So you will end up with microwaves of different shapes and sizes, with different dead spots, leaking more or less radiation, more or less efficient, with more or fewer or different features, all looking different and with different price points.
So basically, they really do differ in almost all the ways that matter, even if they have the same core component.
I worked in product support for a major retailer so I already knew this 😂😂 every time a microwave warranty had to be claimed, we had to call an obscure contact number for Midea. Same for a lot of AC units
Seems like a lot of window ACs are also manufactured by Midea. A lot of them share the same grille, controls, and chassis (ex. Frigidaire)
@@xcmskim4 yeah, which in a way makes it easier to find replacement parts. If we had a random part missing and found a replacement labeled as one of the other Midea-made brands, we knew it would be compatible without having to check anything else. It was great
Imagine going to war with China, and instead of an oil shortage, you end up with an everything shortage.
Wait a monopoly is hidden by giving customers the false sense of choice with different brands? Say it's not so, we consumers have a real choice!
No you Don't > would that Credit or Debit ?
Yes, marketing works, apparently. I'm not particularly brand loyal, so this doesn't concern me. I find many people stupid for falling for them.
Be happy though that the price is low.
I notices the same thing when buying a coffee brewer with built in grinder.
Same machine different faces and brands and up to 250% price difference 🤷♂️
It's not monopoly. If Midea started to get greedy, other companies will pop out.
you have :) if you would dig deeper
4:59
“The Toyota Camry and the Lexus ES 350 are the same car, both owned by Toyota
Orbit, Juicy Fruit, Doublemint, Big Red, Hubba Bubba, and 5 Gum are all owned by Wrigley, which is owned by Mars
Tyson owns Ball Park Franks, Hillshire Farm, and Jimmy Dean
Friskies, Fancy Feast, and Purina are all owned by Nestle
Souffer’s, Hot Pockets, Lean Cuisine, DiGiornio, and Buitoni are all also owned by Nestle
Unilever owns Good Humor, Breyers, Popsicle, Klondike, Magnum, and Ben & Jerry’s
Procter and Gamble own Head and Shoulders, Pantene, Aussie, and Herbal Essences
P&G also owns Swiffer, Mr. Clean, Febreze, Puffs, Bounty, and Charmin
Match Group owns Tinder, Match, Hinge, and OKCupid
There are so many more but it’s past midnight and I have to finish this video”
Thanks for writing that (Sam passed it way too fast)...
BTW, the Toyota tied with the Lexus ES is the larger Avalon (to be discontinued as of the '22 MY), not the Camry. Soon (probably in '24 MY) after making today's ES in Japan for '23 MY, a new ES will come tied to the rumored FWD-based Toyota Crown (both being Made In Japan) that will be brought to The States.
Thanks
In my experience, just because a company has a parent company doesn't mean the child company operates at every whim of the parent company. Most operate almost entirely autonomous. The parent company will coordinate between them to ensure product and service offerings make sense, aren't redundant with another child company offerings, etc.
The overton window also operates in the economic space as well as the political one. While every competent parent company isn't micro managing their franchisee's ( because that's what they basically are at that point) they don't need to, to create a monoculture that then creates a monoproduct, as evidenced in this video. You can operate "independently" while still being bound by the same philosophy that is binding everyone else, that then leads to the exact same end point as everyone else. It's the rules that are hegemonic, not the specific Managers.
Probably depends on the company. In some cases a parent company owns a smaller business (often a former independent one they bought) but is pretty hands-off. In other cases it's just a different logo to slap on the same products, nobody even really "employed" by the supposed brand. Or anywhere in between. Could even see this with GM, at different times in their history the brands have had varying degrees of independence. At one point Cadillac and Pontiac had basically nothing to do with GMC/Chevy, made their own designs from scratch, their own engines, and so on. At other times it has been painfully obvious that Cadillacs are just Chevys with a different badge, different grille, maybe different taillights, and a more luxurious interior.
4:10 HE FINALLY PUBLICLY ADMITTED IN THE VIDEO ITSELF THAT HE RUNS BOTH WENDOEVER PRODUCTIONS AND HAI!!
He forgot a 4TH one: Extremities... (and "Blondie" here does it with his "troop", so at least you know...)
Huh, the adblocker actually blocked content for once then
@@Mordecrox ??
@@saadusmani78 sponsorblock. Usually contributors are careful if the plug has content, but this time it was skipped as an ad, not as self-promotion (which I allow).
I bought a Midea-branded freezer back in 2013 (it still works just fine btw). At the time it was tens% cheaper than any other brand. I figured it was a deliberate brand penetration effort.
Perhaps? But Midea electronics are just cheaper in comparison to international known brands everywhere, even in China. It's a well known brand in China, though not much anywhere else.
The brand focusing in freezers or refrigerators is Haier. It's the equivalent of Midea in fridges.
Yeah... those damn freezers like to penetrate from time to time...
Back when we had malls, Luxottica would own the LensCrafters at one end, the Sunglass Hut in the middle, the Sears optical, and Eye!aster at the far end. Creating an illusion of competition while keeping prices high.
You should have put a spoiler alert on your comment for people who haven't watched 4 minutes into the video.
Did your mall had Pearle Vision? That's theirs too... (and they own the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands while paying license on the rest)
Let me update you on Luxottica... The Italian was bought by French company Essilor, whom already made lenses and lens coatings (to pare up with Luxottica's Transitions). THE VERTICAL INTEGRATION CONTINUES....
That's honestly great from a business perspective, whoever runs that company truly knows what they're doing
@@RealGrouchy Why are you reading the comments of a video you haven’t finished watching yet?
There is a little more to it than that.
The extra 'brands' also have slightly different markets (not from USA so I can't speak to the ones you mentioned) but Sunglass hut is a specialist (have them here too) the others might be High, Mid or Low range pricing or even have a different appeal with 1 appealing to a younger market than the other.
This is true of most electronics. Washing machines, dish washers, ovens, etc. are basically all made in the same factories as well. They're all basically identical with a few cosmetic differences.
Another fascinating fact is that for the laptop's example, all 5 companies are based in Taiwan which is another example of the economy of scale again.
Multibranding reminds me of how many brands Disney, Google, Meta, and many other companies own. Also, I haven't thought about economies of scale since Economics last year! 😅
The thing with Disney and other entertainment conglomerates is that, in their vanity cards, they make sure to say, for example "Paramount: A Viacom company". That way, no one gets confused
@@georgedoty-williams2085 Yep! Meta will say "From Meta" on Facebook and Instagram. Disney will quickly point out that it owns the rights to Star Wars, Marvel, and Pixar too.
@@GabeJBenson - -Disney- already does that with Pixar (both names usually appear side by side) and now with Star India.
I was expecting for you to mention GM with their 2000s brand messiness, but its nice seeing an unknow car like the Sprint come to light, Thanks Sam.
Edit: spelling
th-cam.com/video/3lUp2C0pS_Y/w-d-xo.html finally it's here
It's a Sprint not a Siprit, just btw!
fINaLy iTs HeRe
OED is Original Equipment Designer, OEM is Original Equipment Manufacturer. The manufacturer may also have been the designer but not necessarily.
When I worked at Ford one of our production lines was tagged as "Fairmont/Zephyr"
Literally the only difference between the 2 models was the nameplate.
Yet there were still a lot of people who would buy the more expensive Zephyr from Lincoln/Mercury than the cheaper Fairmont sold by Ford.
To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln "You can fool some of the people all of the time; and all of the people some of the time; but to really make a fortune you find a way to fool all of the people all of the time."
To quote Bob Marley: "You can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all the time!"
As a kid I remember thinking a zephyr was a type of cat because so many other Mercurys at the time were named after cats.
I think Ford made a mistake killing Mercury. I'm too young for a Lincoln but too cool for a Ford. So what do I have? A Subaru. And I used to have a Honda. I might be a Ford customer if Mercury was still a thing they made brand new.
Is this why every modern microwave has an incomprehensible user interface where the only way to use it is pressing the "+30 second" button over and over again?
th-cam.com/video/3lUp2C0pS_Y/w-d-xo.html finally it's here
Those +30s microwaves really annoy me. Last year I bought microwave that has two knobs, one for power and one for time. They perfected microwave UI really long time ago.
@@huuskari174 I straight up refuse to buy a microwave with the +30 button
I have had 2 microwaves in my life. Both GE and I honestly kinda confused. They make microwaves that only have 30 sec plus? Mine has the option, but you just press time coo if you want to include seconds, or just the numbers if you only need a round number.
I love that button. It's simple. Just press it a couple of times and that's it.
The other phrase this is more commonly associated with is "badge engineering", especially in reference to auto manufacturing. In some cases, badge engineering goes so far as to import cars under one brand, de-badge them, and then re-badge them as a domestic brand (called captive imports). Just ask GM why all their Pontiac GTOs had Holden as their part manufacture, or Chrysler why they had so many Lancers without badges on them.
I had a Chevy that was actually a Toyota in disguise.
best example of this is the first gen chevy equinox, which was also branded as the opel antara, saturn vue, suzuki xl7, and the pontiac torrent. GM really likes rebadging their cars lmao
GM is the biggest when it comes to badge engineering. The same car can be sold as a Chevy in the US, a Holden in Oceania, an Opel in Europe, and a Vauxhall in the UK.
Mitsubishi had a thing with Chrysler, Ford and Mazda have done it too. Toyota and Subaru are well known in their partnership from selling the same car as the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ etc, plus the well known Luxury brands of Honda/Acura and Toyota/lexus when especially in their earlier years, just rebadged standard toyota/honda models as Acura/Lexus for the US market because they thought they'd sell better (and it worked)
What? The Lancer was never a captive import for Chrysler. The Lancer was originally an all-American Dodge, and in the 1980's was the H-body. You are wrong on your Chrysler claim.
@@MyerShift7 the first gen lancer was literally designed by Mitsubishi japan (designers Shinichi Yamamura & Munechika Namba) and the wikipedia article states it was sold as a captive import in the US.
So are you sure about that claim?
I guess this explains why it's the buttons on the front of the microwave that always seems to break first. The base unit is decent but then companies slap cheap garbage on the front of it.
There are likely only a handful of magnetrons on the market. Those thin button panels, however, are abused quite a bit by regular use. More robust buttons would be nice, but the food/water resistant membrane probably plays a role in the switch selection.
Thank you, Sam. Excellent video once again! I love the humor you slide into your videos.
So basically, we're just paying for the brand name and the appearance but then again, that's the case for alot of products out there.
th-cam.com/video/3lUp2C0pS_Y/w-d-xo.html finally it's here
@@JatPhenshllem - DENOUNCE "fantastic flavours" and "memecious" while you're at it (I did denounce both myself as well).
@@JatPhenshllem didn't help. I reported too. TH-cam is so loaded with bots now, that I'm honestly impressed.
There is only 1 manufacturer of shop vacuums; just as there used to be only 1 manufacturer of 'Malibu lights'.
@@lanaj1107 Yep. Still here. That is impressive, honestly
One thing: the pronunciation is "May Dee", as "Mei Di" in the Chinese Pinyin. It literally means "Something Beautiful".
It's up to the company to spell their name the way they want it to be pronounced. For example Hyundai is pronounced "Hyeon-dae", but the spelling makes some people pronounce it "Hi-un-dye".
@@gabriell.4440I am not against people pronounce it as whatever they want to. I am only giving them the idea what this brand called in China.
May Dee to May Guo（America）, beutiful thing to beutiful country.
Sam, that moment at 4:17 forever cemented me as a subscriber for all your channels
I just love these over-the-top frank, tongue in cheek, self-deprecating approach to their presentations.
I believe Panasonic makes its own megatrons (oops I mean magnetron) but I could be wrong.
They do. Part of the reason they're highly rated and have much more consistent heating
Does any company make their own Starscreams?
@@mididude03 They have a patent on the Inverter microwave tech. Whereas most other microwaves deliver 100% of the power in timed bursts to deliver its lower power levels, inverter evenly delivers a specific power all of the time. Supposed to lead to more even cooking.
OK, you've triggered the Transformers fan base here. It is MAGNETRON...
@@syxepop thanks 😅
Same with how most beverages are made by one company, Coca-Cola
pepsico..?
@@domotoro3552 they often share distrob centers
Not even close
Coca-Cola, Pepsico and The Dr. Pepper-Snapple Group do actually control most of the drinks industry
@@Lord_Foxy13 as most companies do in their industry, this isn't anything new. There's still competition 👍
So crazy, I noticed this the other day when I had to fix my 30 year old microwave.
The High Voltage capacitor dried out, and that's when I learned that capicitor is almost the same in every microwave.
Outboard motors are the same way. Basically everyone's outboards are made by Tohatsu, and I'd say about 75% of all outboard components are directly interchangeable. Hell, the 90s Yamaha 9.9s and the 90s Mercury 9.9s share the same power head.
Tohatsu or Honda to be more correct. however Honda is more in on the some what smaller engines.
Hand Tools too > Dewalt, Husky, Matco, Snap On, etc...
Nissan and Tohatsu's outboard motors are literally the same exact things, just with different logos. Evinrude and Johnson Marine also make basically the same engines under different names.
3:15
This is honestly one of the things that freaks me out most about the world. If terrorists were smart they wouldn’t be targeting federal buildings they’d be targeting things like semi conductor factories, the canals that connect the world (panema, suez, etc.) targets that multiple entire industries are built around.
Yeah but they aren't run by joker. They don't really want to see the world burn, they just want to beat down the current establishment to fill the power vacuum created. And targeting the real important stuff is effective, but leaves you with a lot of work to rebuild a functioning society after. The difficult part is to destroy just enough to get ahold of the power, and not more.
exactly,
also could you kindly define that word, terr0r1$t?
what does it mean to you?
Yeah but terrorists dont usualy want the WHOLE world to collapse, just the people who pissed them off to collapse.
@@iwantedtosavetheworld7358 he means someone who will blow shit up to cause problems, and that shutting down the suez or panama, or a semicon/microchip factory would be the best way to do it. Honestly, terrorism is only not a problem because terrorists go for symbolic targets over strategic targets half the time
@@Goretantath you sir know too much
unlike others on this thread
Yeah, this was like finding out that my favorite and least favorite beers are made by the same company.
This deserved a Wendover video dude. This was so much good information enough for 1.5 times as interesting.
0:05 Crazy to think that the vast majority of people don't know how to use a microwave oven properly or even that you can actually prepare decent tasting meals inside of them. Quick Tip: Reheat food at 70% power so it tastes less "reheated".
How do you do that, I never used a microwave in my life?
@@organizedchaos4559 It depends, if it isn't obvious you can look it up online for your specific model.
It's also worth checking out the power level recommendations for specific types of food.
Yeah, came to the same conclusion, heating things more slowly in microwave makes her heat more evenly.
I mean, you've got to understand how microwaves work. 100% just means the magnetron is running the full time. 70% means it runs 70%, and 30% of the time it's "off"...for instance, at 50% it might run for 5 seconds then off of 5 seconds. The trick is how the microwaves affect water in your food.
@@nickmonks9563 Yes. That gives time for heat to spread through the food, which can prevent hot spots. Although it would be nice if someone made a microwave that could actually run at low power.
I'm a scrapper. I pick up lots of appliances that people throw away, and the microwave is one of the most common. I've taken apart hundreds of microwaves in the past year and I noticed they all looked pretty similar on the inside. I take it apart to separate the metals. I remove the two electric motors, the transformer, and the wires. But I swear, half of them look the exact same way, the exact same layout on the inside. That makes it easier on me, making it an easy routine to process them(usually only takes as little as a minute with a hammer and drill). But at the same time that's pretty disturbing now knowing that there's basically a monopoly for them.
Same. I’ve scrapped out many too. A lot of the bigger appliances are pretty much all the same too.
It's not monopoly. If Midea started to get greedy, other companies will pop out and create their own microwaves.
Why are they broken though?
Maybe you just have to replace the fuse and they would work.
@@jannikheidemann3805 All the ones I've salvaged were broken because they were just *old* & full of gunk [literally: several of them must have had owners who were smokers, there was so much tarry fur on their insides. Others were clearly just used next to a gas stove top, and never had spills/boilovers properly cleaned up after...]
All of the newer ones [judging from size; nukers have shrunk considerably over the years as people realized you'll never cook a turkey in one!] have aluminum wires for all except the low frequency coil on the xformer, so I'm not wasting any more time on scrapping anything but that from now on; aluminum scrap just isn't worth the effort involved at the current low price for the metal...
Luxottica also bought out a bunch of companies and jacked up prices of eye wear. They apparently also own eye insurance companies.
your videos are literally the perfect mix between information and humor
You should patent ‘Sam’s Special Hot Poc-latte’
You can find the same phenomenon on water-coolers in PCs. Most pumps are made by Asetek, and then companies just add their radiators on top.
That’s because asetek are basically patent trolls. They don’t hold the pump water lock combo rights outside of the USA.
asetek is an asshole, they patented having a pump in a CPU waterblock which is dumb
that's like patenting an engine in a car and then preventing other manufacturers from making a car with an engine built in, how they managed to patent it is beyond me...
I had to pick up a cheap window AC just last week. I had never heard of Midea, but that was the cheapest so that's what I got. I also made the Madea joke to my wife, which probably got just as many laughs as you got.
Loved this video! Also loving the Connect 4 game on your other channel!
I think there's at this point quite a few examples like this, where everyone ultimately buys from the same factory. I wonder if someone has made a list :P
It's very common in the performance computer space, Nvidia and AMD license their graphics cards to other brands (the do end up carrying the brand name though)
Ram manufacturers buy ram chips mainly from Samsung and micron.
Monitor panels are mainly made by Samsung and LG, etc these last ones generally don't even have the brand on the licensed products.
@@C4CH3S yup, LCD panels and RAM chips were my first thought, too. Then there's NAND flash, and of course if we're in that corner we could consider Samsung and TSMC's market position making chips in general, and maybe even ASML as the only manufacturer of high-end lithography machines, though the reasons there are more everyone else dropping out while they kept spending on R&D for decades, as opposed to pure economics of scale.
th-cam.com/video/3lUp2C0pS_Y/w-d-xo.html finally it's here
Nice profile pic ;)
@@C4CH3S, buying components from other companies is very common everywhere. The video talks about outsourcing manufacturing completely, including assembly.
88 cents a pound horse meat sounds pretty good right now!
Microwave ovens are a sort of peaked technology. Open one up from 25 years ago and the insides are the same. The magnetrons are interchangeable. I don’t think magnetron packaging has changed in 40 years maybe? There’s no more innovation left except in the control circuitry.
Sam: "Nearly every microwave is made by the same company."
Me: Nearly 20 years ago, I bought literally the cheapest microwave I could find, at WalMart, for about $40. Since that time, I have had over a DOZEN other microwaves, from various brands, including "commercial" ones, which have all failed. Every time one fails, I send it out to the trash and put that $40 one back on the counter until I get another 'new' microwave. Eventually, I stopped buying new microwaves, and just kept that super-cheap, rotary-dial "egg-timer" one. That cheap, boring microwave is still going today.
I wonder if it's made by that same company? This is certainly a case of "they don't make 'em like they used to", and "simple is better."
No fancy electronics. Nothing high-end about it. Just a rotary dial for the time, and a rotary switch with five levels on it. And it always works.
I am a software engineer, and am always surprised how people chase ans cherish more and more electronics, which are only just another level where something might and eventually will go wrong. I LOVE cables, love old things that are not digital and pretty much always buy less complicated alternatives if only I can
@@nodell8729 do you know the meme "software engineer vs tech enthusiasts"? There is a reason why mechanical things still exist today...
My LG's MW (like yours: 5 power levels, mechanical timer) is ~30 years old and works fine, BUT.
The plastic wheels supporting the plate have eventually removed most of the paint from the ridge they are moving inside, and the bare steel is now oxidized - I'm afraid that corrosion will advance and I'll spend money on another one before I die.
This entire channel is now worth it, for "whirlpooligan" alone.
Yea and almost every toaster is the same too, as Tom Scott showed us like a decade ago.
Yes and in my experience they're all terrible
@@KSJAFN Which is much less the case with microwaves unless you just misuse them.
Tho on that, toaster oven >>> toaster any day cuz toaster oven has many more uses and is more customisable and is just all around better cuz of all that.
Content creator has good sense of humor. I find pleasing.
my family actually owns a non midea microwave! it’s an old LG drawer one from the early 2000s. when it broke down a while ago it was actually difficult to find parts and repair instructions because it was so different from the midea ones 😅
I demand discussion of Panasonic and their seemingly unique inverter technology.
I love the inverter feature! In fact right now I'm cooking pasta in my Panasonic microwave at power level 7. Never any boil over!
@@sbs5130 That's because inverter microwaves deliver constant power instead of cycling on and off. Once you've use it, it's hard to go back to ordinary ones which uses transformers.
0:12 AMONG US???????
when the microwave is sus!!!
As someone who tutored microeconomics for a while, I am loving this simplistic and intuitive explanation of fixed and variable costs!
Midea also makes most window air conditioners on the market. Luxottica also owns a bunch of eyeglasses/contacts stores (Pearlevision, LensCrafters, Contacts Direct, Target Optical, Sunglasses Hut, etc.), plus they also own EyeMed Vision, one of the largest vision benefits program providers. They really have the optical market cornered!
I thought I was watching my Samsung TV, but it was my Samsung microwave.
Samsung does make their own microwaves tbf
This is also one of the reasons that microwaves with proper sensor cooking are rare. Like you have to buy a Samsung to get a proper popcorn feature that isn't just a glorified timer because all of those models that Midea makes just use glorified timers instead of an actual sensor
I have a Sharp combi bought back in 1993/4 it also has a remarkable good sensor build with in.
But it might help that back in the late 80's and early 90's the trend was still to build something to last. And sure it works to this day like a charm.
3:08 The Super Bell is not a mushroom.
@1:03 Well how about that. I looked at my 700-watt Insignia microwave and found the exact same back pattern. I always figured, being a mature technology, microwaves are all the same, but I never imagined they were literally the exact same components.
Mmm radiation
Yum
Would’ve been more tasty if they used x-rays. I want my dinner subjected to dangerous amounts of ionizing radiation
Mummy microwave
Even if they were not all manufactured by Midea, all microwaves would be the same, regardless. The reason they only come in 3 sizes, small medium and large, is because the internal dimensions must be exact such that the microwave radiation is reflected, rather than absorbed. Any different, and once it hits the opposite side of the internal chamber, much if it's energy is lost and absorbed as heat. However, my measuring the wavelength itself, you can determine just how far the wave moves before it is within the mathematical ideal position to be reflected, retaining your energy.
And thus, regardless of Midea, all microwaves would still have the same dimensions, and therefore the same parts, because it has already been perfected.
Can Microwave technology have advancements or will it just be stuck there?
@@darklex5150 What do you mean advancement? Microwaves are electromagnetic radiations of a certain wavelength - there's no changing that as it's a definition. There is a bit of wiggle room between the "microwave" band, but I'm quite sure they already found the best one.
What could possibly happen is a company that tries to use a different wavelength, therefore changing the "microwave", but it won't be based on microwaves anymore, and they would still be probably inferior to the common microwave of today (aka they just tried all the feasible wavelenghts)
@@Serena-or7sl so the technology is stuck, alright, i get it.
@@darklex5150 I never really thought about the outlined property by the OP, but that does make sense. However do consider that there's more to them than just the wavelength and size, Panasonic (and maybe some others too?) have made inverter microwaves that can run at a lower power level. Not just the typical on/off duty cycles traditional ones have. This results in more even heating in my experience, less of the defrosting a chicken ending up with a mostly defrosted but some bits already cooked white experience.
Then there are combi microwaves with thigns like convection oven and grill functionality integrated, I sometimes see them with the option to combine two of those heating sources but rarely more than two (likely for obvious reasons like maximum power draw from an outlet). There's also room for improvement with sensors that actually work, I've had one myself and the previous one of my parents that claimed to have "automatic programs" for certain food types and that the machine would handle it based on its sensors. Let's just say it wasn't great at best and some big failures. The current one in the new kitchen of my parents has some programs in it that actually work and seem to adjust the time a little bit during the process.
So I wouldn't expect the form factor and exterior of microwaves to change much over time, but if there's any innovation it's likely in proper combinations of different heat sources and better (semi)automatic results from programs. There's also a lot of room for improvement in typical combi microwaves to make the UI better, faster and more intuitive.
3:36 "These companies, sometimes called OEDs, or Original Equipment Manufacturers, are everywhere." I'm not so sure about that. It probably depends on the market, but I would not be surprised if most are in China. Weird true story: In 1983 I was about to graduate with BS in computer science and was interviewing on campus with various companies. One "university relations specialist" I interviewed with touted that his company was an OEM. I didn't know what that meant so I asked him, but he seemed really pissed off and didn't bother to explain. Needless to say, I did not accept their offer.
I think he meant everywhere as in 'in every product category' and not as in 'in every geographical locale'
This dude has the best titles on TH-cam. It’s like clickbait but it’s not.
The front-end of almost every car, (and many other vehicles) are also made by a single company. For over 30 years now, most all vehicles have front-end "bumpers" that appear fully integrated with the body of the car. In reality its a painted vac-formed plastic cover, over an impact-absorbing Styrofoam backing and every major auto manufacture sources them from: Flex-N-Gate. Sound like a good investment opportunity; well you needn't worry about that; according to Forbes, Flex-N-Gate is 46th largest privately-held American company and is wholly owned by essentially one man; Pakistani-American billionaire Shahid Khan. Last year he ranked 94th in the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, making him about the 291st richest person in the world.
By your own list they're are many brands not made by this company how about Panasonic for instance... They make a ton of microwaves for themselves and other people. I've noticed restaurants always seem to use Panasonic as do gas stations and high commercial environments.
I came here for this! Panasonic (from my research when looking for a new one a few years back) has the ONLY patent for the way their inverter works. Which is able to make it cook at a variable rate. If you notice every other microwave when cooking on a lower temp setting you can hear it cycling on and off -- at half power, it just cooks for 50% of the time at 50% rather than how Panasonic actually cooks at 50% the cooking power, and cooks the entire time. I was surprised he didn't mention that, but that might be a topic for Wendover rather than the awesome shorts that HAI does. :)
Now that's an handy piece of info. This video basically tells you that you may as well just buy a Midea branded microwave and save the money you'd otherwise pay to the front company, whereas I'd rather know whose companies do NOT cheap out on outsourced production.
The ones in the public areas are often heavy duty versions with metal cases, I guess they are a lot more expensive than the ones Media makes.
I worked for Expedia for a bit. They have many more brands than what you listed, but you’ll still sometimes find differences in the deals you get with each one, or the search features available on each site.
Just wow, I work in the HVAC industry in Latin America. Have known this brand as the biggest HVAC manufacturing company in china, so they manufacture light commercial equipment for other American brands, in fact the first and second generations of variable refrigerant for some brands were made by Midea. Now they are expanding businesses here in comercial and applied hvac
ANd i never knew micro waves can be intresting.
Ask any Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares fan about "Chef Mike"...
Wait until you hear about microwaving hamsters back to life.
fwiw there are some microwaves that are genuinely better than those by having inverter technology that doesn't just do a full power on-off pulse regime but actually dials down the power output for a consistent lower power output. for the cheaper microwaves i'm sure they are all made by this company though.
It's probable that they are all made by the same company anyway, just two different production lines.
I know someone who has an Amana Radarange "Touchmatic II" from the 1970s. It still works great,
and for several reasons it's far better than any microwave made today.
It's also very heavy and pretty big for the size of the cooking compartment, but it is used only for small items,
so that isn't a problem for him.
3:39 OED, or Original Equipment Design, is also fairly used in this situation; because the design of the product is sometimes done by the company which also manufactures the product itself.
Next video suggestion: explaining the hotpocket horse meat comment as a joke before you get sued. Love your videos, anything new in the wild world of bricks?
I think the worst case of car rebadging is from GM, of course it always was and still is. But I think one of the most rebadged models is the lovely time in the 00s when they sold the same SUV under 6 different names in the U.S alone. Chevy Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, Saab 9-7x, Oldsmobile Bravada, and Isuzu Ascender.
Ahem. Chevette.
@@DGTelevsionNetwork the Corvette was close to never rebadged as something else
A lot of Chevys sold in the US are rebadged Daewoos from Korea. GM outsources R&D of small cars to Korea to produce the Trax, Trailblazer, Malibu, Cruze, Spark,
I found this nearly a year ago, when my landlord installed a Midea heat-pump on my apartment.
As I researched for Midea on the web - as I had no idea of what they were at the time - I uncovered the their huge size, reach, and influence they have on the consumer applicances market.
On the apartment I recently bought, there was a Whirlpool heat-pump already installed on it.
I wonder if it is already manufactured by Midea...
You know what, I love Midea's design. No digital clock, no 10-key number pad, not even a button to open the door. Just shut the door and turn the knob. It's the Apple of microwaves. Now I want one.
In my opinion horse meat would not necessarily be bad. The only reason we don't normally eat horse meat is because it would be a stupid idea to eat your transportation or farm equipment. Horses aren't inherently different than pigs goats or cows
Pigs are different than cows. They meat has totally different taste and texture. Also pigs are much smarter than cows.
Panasonic microwaves aren't made by them
"Almost Every Microwave..."
@@Game_Hero that's right, and Panasonic is one of those exceptions.
Alternative title: "The Frustrating Reason Why They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To". It's so rare to find an actual quality product these days. Everything sold by everyone is made by a handful of megamanufacturers in Asia, so if the thing you want has flaws, every product from every brand has that flaw and you can't escape it.
Horse meat! LOL, his dry delivery is epic.
@5:09 "... where the world is our board ..." shows a graphic of north america and highlights USA.
The world? All of it?
I used to unload microwaves from containers for a large appliance company. I suspected this was the case. For what it's worth, *some* of ours also came from a place in Korea.
EDIT: I'm a car guy, and I have never in my life seen a GMC Spirit. TIL.
The GMC version of the El Camino was Sprint for a while (later Chevy used it on their version of the Suzuki Forsa / Swift), but later on they switched to CABALLERO (man). That's how much of a car guy I am (and it'd take Sam more than 4 minutes to dissect the rebadges just in cars sold in US).
@@syxepop I remember the Chevy sprint and spirit in the late 1980s. And you're right, "Badge engineering" would be a pretty long video.
Also guitars, the largest guitar manufacturer in the world is Cor-Tek in South Korea, Indonesia and China. They can sell some models under their “Cort” brand name, but they make guitars for almost everyone you can think of, even PRS (well their “Student” SE models anyway, everything else is made in Maryland. Only Gibsons are still all made in the USA… and the pricing shows it.
I'm so glad we finally have a channel that's crater-driven. Craters have been ignored for too long.
i am over 20 years old and have not once in my life used a microwave.
good they are convenient but make your food gross
saw a microwave many years ago, haven't seen again
p.s. i am just poor
@@nade7242 A microwave can perfectly cook lots of foods, it's especially ideal for steam cooked things like vegetables or "baked" potatoes (the way most people make baked potatoes they are in fact steamed, not baked). They're also one of the best ways to heat up liquids.
@@VitalVampyr i use it for liquids and shitty food only
"No appliance can make your food hotter or worse tasting quicker than a microwave" Clearly you don't own an air fryer.
You’re saying food from an air fryer is worse than from a microwave?!
Same issue with my fridge and dishwasher. They use all common parts with several other brands
You've Got Mail shout out. Loving it.
If that's the case, why does consumer reports have such wildly different ratings for machines that are practically identical internally?
Perhaps consumer reports isn’t exactly as trust worthy as they want you to think?
Consumer Reports is basically fiction by this time.
@@ethan8766 CR has ALWAYS had a lot of brand specific bias... That said, it's also the case that different brands will be made to different specifications, even if they're coming from the same plant. GE may specify better plastics on the front of its Profile line, while a bargain brand like Sharp get thinner/cheaper stuff. And some simple brand-specific styling changes can really affect ergonomics and ease of use.
@@ethan8766 I used to work for a Snapper lawn mower distributor and one year Consumer reports gave our new aluminum deck rear bagger the #1 score. We knew that this mower was crap and it was discontinued a few years latter.