Apple rival Samsung forecasts high profits despite Note 7 fires & political scandals
Samsung Electronics on Friday announced a forecast of its best profits in over three years for the March quarter, despite dealing with the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7, and a political scandal that resulted in the arrest of vice chairman Jay Y. Lee.
Operating profits likely hit $8.8 billion, beating an analyst consensus of just under $8.3 billion, Reuters reported. Overall revenue is estimated to have grown 0.4 percent to over $44 billion, again topping analyst predictions.
Sales are thought to have been fueled by Samsung's semiconductor business, and to a lesser extent low- to mid-range smartphones. The company is world's biggest memory chip supplier, topping the likes of Toshiba, and riding high on a memory "super-cycle."
Battery problems with the Note 7 led to two recalls and the eventual termination of the product. In January, Samsung estimated that the debacle would cost it $5 billion, without factoring in any damage to its reputation.
Lee is accused of directing money to Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in return for political favors -- above all, support from the National Pension Services for a 2015 merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, which gave Lee more power within the Samsung Group. On Friday, the executive appeared in a Seoul courtroom. Other Korean corporations have also been accused of undue influence.
Samsung's fortunes could improve still further with the release of the Galaxy S8 later this month. The phone contains many features expected for Apple's "iPhone 8," such as a curved, 5.8-inch OLED screen, virtual buttons, 3D facial recognition, and augmented reality functions.
Operating profits likely hit $8.8 billion, beating an analyst consensus of just under $8.3 billion, Reuters reported. Overall revenue is estimated to have grown 0.4 percent to over $44 billion, again topping analyst predictions.
Sales are thought to have been fueled by Samsung's semiconductor business, and to a lesser extent low- to mid-range smartphones. The company is world's biggest memory chip supplier, topping the likes of Toshiba, and riding high on a memory "super-cycle."
Battery problems with the Note 7 led to two recalls and the eventual termination of the product. In January, Samsung estimated that the debacle would cost it $5 billion, without factoring in any damage to its reputation.
Lee is accused of directing money to Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in return for political favors -- above all, support from the National Pension Services for a 2015 merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, which gave Lee more power within the Samsung Group. On Friday, the executive appeared in a Seoul courtroom. Other Korean corporations have also been accused of undue influence.
Samsung's fortunes could improve still further with the release of the Galaxy S8 later this month. The phone contains many features expected for Apple's "iPhone 8," such as a curved, 5.8-inch OLED screen, virtual buttons, 3D facial recognition, and augmented reality functions.
Comments
They can thank Apple.
But only among customers who haven't already switched to iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
They are also advertising a lot on TV. Pre-order now and get it 8 days early.
One other MNVO outlet is also Wall-to-wall Samsung, this time the Galaxy A.
Bang goes their profits then?
I think Samsung buyers either don't care about quality, or they have the attention span of a gnat and Samsung is banking on that.
Thanks for the troll post and the laugh!
Then you have to consider that for most people those 'features' don't matter that much. Smartwatches are very much a minority thing.
As long at it works and they can use Facebook etc then people will be happy.
VR is even more of a minority thing than smartwatches.
Nice to have but hardly Unique Selling Points that the masses will line up en-masse for.
You will be wanting SD cards and removable batteries next.
I admit that it will be hard for Apple to differentiate their next device from this one. But hey, that's what the top bods get paid the big bucks for.
We know where Samsung makes its money because the company reports it.
When Apple does it we get this:
...a top of the line, waterproof (resistant is what you meant but whatever) leading device that doesnt blow up and destroy property and which has never been banned from all aircraft for fear of killing everyone aboard. Plus a smart watch that doesnt look like a hockey puck strapped to your arm. And no gimmicks like eyeball-scrolling or VR or faulty facial recognition that has already been defeated with a simple photograph.
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” -Steve Jobs
apple pay works at 11% of credit card terminals in the USA right now, Samsung pay works at 98% of credit card terminals in the USA. Not having to carry my credit cards or wallets around ever is worth every penny. Thank goodness i have never had any problems with overheating or fires on any samsungs I have ever owned. I can also reach over without looking in the dark, and get my phone charging in the middle of the night by simply placing it on the charging pad on my nightstand, no fiddling for cables and finding the charging port on the bottom of my phone. and I have had that feature for 3 years NOW, i dont know how i could live without it. I had an iphone 1 all the way thru the iphone 5 but when i took a fair and balanced look at what apple was offering and what samsung phones were offering, i had to switch to samsung and i gotta say, I have never thought of switching back once.
If apple adds wireless charging finally to their phones, you all will see a small piece of the great features i have been enjoying for years and you will still have so many other great features you dont even realize you are missing which you will wait years for because you are "patiently waiting for Apple to do it the right way". Good luck with that belief, i'm over here enjoying the future!
But have fun with your, uh, charging mat. Having one of those next to my bed sounds super sweet.
When Apple does something, they usually do that well. When Sammy does something, you can bet certain shortcuts were made to deliver you "the best" "features" to date....such as touchless scrolling that no one uses, because it is so good; facial recognition that does not work for what it was intended. Do you have a great OLED screen? Sure! Too bad, color correction and proper handling of color profiles is nonexistent on Android, making that OLED with almost AdobeRGB gamut absolutely useless.
GPU is so weak that you can barely play games at 720p WITH HUGE loss in quality ... on a supposedly 1440p screen.
Wireless charging is a joke because unlike a wired charging, you can't use the device while it is charging...unless you wanna move a charging surface along with your phone. You can do that qith wired charging...and it is more efficient because you do not waste energy by radiating it away into 3D space.
Multiple processor cores ( 4-8 instead of two) which leads to absolutely abysmall performance of non-multithreaded apps...which shows in benchmarks.
Do I need to continue?
Everything they do is not balanced and not well thought out, but absolutely done to show off (unfortunately only on paper).
Wireless charging gives you flexibility. great for in car or bedside charging. The cable charge option is still there if you need it.
Fast charging will get you out of a pickle more often than you think.