Lamellar armour (the type shown in the 2 top photos) would certainly be a lot easier to make than mail and plate armour, and it was widely used. Not only was it used in China and Tibet, but also in Iran and the Middle-East up until the 14th century AD. In the Middle East it seems to have been superseded by mail-and-plate armours in the early 15th century. AFAIK there are no complete surving Islamic lamellar armours, although fragments and individual lamellae have been found in Iraq.
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