But the bigger story perhaps was the fact that the company reported disappointing smartphone sales, including that of its flagship smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
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The semiconductor division achieved an operating profit of W3.4 trillion during the second quarter, the first time since the third quarter of 2010 that it surpassed W3 trillion. Apple mobile division’s revenues rose by 59% as compared to 2014 and 47.5 million iPhones were shipped in the quarter. The 2.76 trillion won in profits were a drop of almost 38 percent from the division’s performance in the same quarter of 2014.
The results might be indicative of the tough battle Samsung faces in trying to gain market share from Apple, whose iPhone is the dominant player in smartphones.
Samsung expects robust semiconductor sales to continue as new smartphones are unveiled and servers and PCs increasingly use solid state drives with NAND flash chips. Right now, the S6 is available for roughly $699 off-contract, with its edge twin being $100 more. The smartphone has a 5.1-inch 2560×1440 Quad HD AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,440×2,560 pixels, and is powered by a 64-bit, octa-core Exynos 7420 processor.
Other specifications on the handset will include 8GB of built in storage, a microSD card slot and a 4.7 megapixel camera, the handset is also expected to come with a 2 megapixel front camera.
On the eve of phone’s release in April, however, many analysts wondered whether the features were enticing enough to convince buyers to upgrade from their existing Galaxy S5 phones, let alone spring for an S6 instead of a comparable smartphone from a competitor. The earnings were little changed from preliminary figures Samsung announced on July 7.
The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge with a wraparound screen received rave reviews, but company predictions of record sales fell short of expectations, partly due to production and supply constraints.
New middle- and low-end models will also be introduced, the company said. The “new model with a larger screen” being talked about could be the Galaxy Note 5 or the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus that are expected to launch next month.
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South Korean giant Samsung Electronics posted an 8.0 percent fall in second quarter net profit Thursday and promised “flexible” pricing of its new flagship smartphone after less than stellar sales contributed to a slump in its mobile unit’s earnings.
