Samsung’s mobile division has skipped merrily into profit, as the Galaxy S4 launched yesterday.
The company’s mobile division was in the black thanks to strong smartphone sales and reduced marketing expenses (raising the query of whether Samsung is now just too darn big to need advertising).
The IT & Mobile Communications division, made up of four businesses including the mobile division, saw a 7% increase in revenue from the previous quarter, at â©32.82 trillion ( £19.1 billion) thanks to “sound” sales of the Galaxy S3 and Note 2, while the S3’s successor, the Galaxy S4, launched yesterday worldwide.
This saw operating profits of â©6.51 trillion ( £3.8 billion) for the first quarter, with the mobile business alone accountable for â©31.77 trillion ( £18.5 billion) in sales, up from last quarter‘s, operating profit of â©5.44 trillion ( £3.2 billion), and up from the same quarter in 2012, which saw operating profit of â©4.27 trillion ( £2.5 billion).
So Samsung is going from strength to strength, it seems, with the company no doubt hoping to see the S3’s success repeated in its successor, the S4.
The company expected that smartphone sales would stay flat in the second quarter, with demand forecast to drop thanks to heightened competition, Samsung said. Sales would pick up in the second half of the year, with companies racing for market share as more mid to low end devices as well as flagships, were made available.
Overall, however, the company saw a 6% drop in revenues from the end of 2012, to â©52.87 trillion ( £30.8 billon), and a 1% decrease in operating profit to â©8.78 trillion ( £5.1 billion). But consolidated net profit was up from â©7.04 trillion to â©7.15 trillion ( £4.2 billion) from the last quarter.
