As for China, the company’s new mobile chief, D.J. Koh, says the worst is likely over there, and Samsung will begin to show signs of improvement in the market-share figures in coming months.
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Samsung also launched an annual phone upgrade program and opted not to raise the Galaxy’s pricing this year, angling to avoid sticker shock among both first-time buyers and phone owners looking to upgrade.
Samsung debuted its high-end smartphones in March, about a month earlier than past year, with sales of the S7 line-up estimated to have hit 9-million units during their first month – triple those of the S6 in the same time frame. That prompted analysts to raise projections in past weeks.
The strong figure are most probably result of a more-than-expected sales of the company’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. The sales of the Galaxy S7 series around the globe is estimated at 10 million units, beating the previous expectations of 7 million, they added.
The world’s largest smartphone producer said operating profit in the January-March period was expected to reach around 6.6tril won (RM22.15bil), up from 6.0tril won (RM20.13bil) a year ago. Earnings improved in late 2015 but that was largely thanks to the performance of its semiconductor division.
The shares finished 1.3 percent lower at 1,269,000 won in Seoul.
Operating profit is set for a boost of around 7.5 percent from the 6.1 trillion won it posted for the fourth quarter of 2015. Its mid-range products like the Galaxy J series and Galaxy A series are doing well in emerging markets, Kaur said. The S7 Edge ranges in price from 924,000 won to 968,000 won, according to Samsung. Such efforts, and better-than-anticipated sales for its flagship Galaxy S7 devices, are expected to lift Samsung’s earnings.
Samsung is continuing to reduce the number of telephones in its lineup as it tries to cut spending and focus on competitive devices.
SquareTrade, a company that offers extended-protection plans for gadgets, said the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge still functioned after being submerged in water for 30 minutes. In addition to the newest update for the Samsung Assist app launched last week, the company also announce three models available now.
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This marks three consecutive quarters of operating profit increase compared with a year earlier. But persistent price declines mean it may have again been surpassed by the mobile business. “Apple’s portfolio strategy with the iPhone SE launch is particularly created to make room for refurb devices for sub-$300 price-points”, said Neil Shah, another Counterpoint analyst.
