What just happened? Samsung has issued its earnings guidance report for the three months ending June, and it’s not good news. The tech giant’s second-quarter operating profit is expected to be down more than 56 percent compared to the same period last year, while revenue looks set to drop 4 percent.
While 6.5 trillion won ($5.56 billion) is a lot of money, it would be Samsung’s lowest profit since Q3 2016, when the Galaxy Note 7 recall and discontinuation hit it hard. Revenue, meanwhile, is predicted to be 56 trillion won ($47.89 billion).
Samsung never said what caused the falling figures, but it's likely to be related to its chip business, which brings in around 75 percent of the company's profits. As was the case with Q1 2019, the firm is feeling the effects of declining DRAM and NAND chip prices, and the Huawei ban appears to be making things worse.
As disappointing as the results are, things would have been even worse if not for a one-off payment from an unnamed customer in the display division. It’s strongly believed that the company was Apple, who reportedly paid Samsung 800 billion won ($684 million) compensation after failing to meet its agreed minimum OLED display orders.
Additionally, Samsung continues to face increasing competition from Chinese smartphone makers. The Galaxy Note 10 launch will no doubt give it a boost, but we still don’t know how the Galaxy Fold will fare once it’s released, given the device’s previous problems. There’s also the matter of an Australian lawsuit over an allegedly deceptive ad campaign to deal with.
Samsung will publish the final figures for the quarter later this month.
https://www.techspot.com/news/80814-samsung-expects-q2-profit-fall-more-than-half.html
