Samsung Reports Lowest Profit in Three Years

Reuters:

The company, the global leader in smartphones, has lost market share in annual terms for the last two quarters, lagging Apple in the premium market and overtaken by rivals like Lenovo and Xiaomi at the bottom end.

Samsung said its third-quarter operating profit fell by 60.1 percent from a year earlier, to 4.1 trillion won ($3.9 billion), matching its guidance issued this month and signifying the weakest result since the second quarter of 2011.

The press has long pitted Samsung as a direct rival to Apple, but it’s always been clear that the low end of the phone market was a huge part of their mobile business. I don’t see how they get that back, now that Lenovo and Xiaomi have caught up, nor do I see how they take any of the high-end market from Apple.

But let’s face it: “only” $3.9 billion in profit is not a bad problem to have. They’re still a massively successful company.

★ Friday, 31 October 2014