A day after LG announced that its Q3 operating profit more than doubled on record smartphone sales, rival Samsung has reported disappointing third quarter results, with operating profit falling to its lowest level in more than three years, thanks to slowing smartphone sales.
Samsung reported an overall Q3 operating profit of $3.8 billion, down a whopping 60 percent year-on-year, and revenue of $45 billion, down 20 percent compared to the same quarter last year. The results were mostly in line with the company's preliminary estimates released earlier this month, suggesting a drop of 62 percent in operating profit and 22 percent in sales.
Profit for the company's mobile division fell to $1.66 billion in the third quarter, a 74 percent drop year-over-year, while mobile revenues were down by 34 percent.
Although Samsung's consumer electronics division, which is responsible for everything from TVs to home appliances, fell short of the company's internal expectations, its semiconductor division recorded an operating profit of $2.14 billion – its highest since the third quarter of 2010.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Samsung said it "cautiously expects an earnings increase, driven by strong seasonal demand for TVs and continued growth momentum for the Memory Business", adding that although the company expects a pick up in demand for the recently launched Galaxy Note 4 as well as new middle-end smartphone models, uncertainty remains due to the year-end surge in competitor smartphone launches.