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Smartphones Lift Samsung To Best Profit In Over Two Years (engadget.com)

Posted by msmash on from the samsung-is-back dept.

Samsung said on Thursday that its second-quarter operating profit likely rose 17.4% from a year earlier. The figure marks the highest for Samsung in more than 2 years. The company adds that sales of Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone propelled its mobile earnings. Engadget reports: While Samsung won't be releasing its detailed earnings until the end of July, Reuters believes the top earner this quarter is none other than the mobile division, which also topped the last one. The news source says the division's profit could be up 54.5 percent from the same period last year. According to Yonhap News, Samsung shipped out around 15 million S7 and S7 edge units from April to June, with the latter beating out the basic S7 despite being more expensive.The company's mobile division, which once mostly had to compete with Apple's iPhone in the smartphone market, has been facing stiff competition from Chinese players such as Xiaomi and Huawei especially in the emerging market. But interestingly, some of these Chinese players have started to cut the big margin that their phones enjoyed in the recent months to make more profit.

42 comments

  1. fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fp
    props to all dead homiez

    1. Re:fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just the dead ones? Live lives matter!

    2. Re:fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They were better off dead anyway. At least they aren't robbing liquor stores anymore.

  2. Only APPS can app apps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The modern app appers at Appsung are apping apps while apping other apps, unlike the LUDDITES at Nokia making LUDDITE Lumia phones!

    Apps!

  3. Not surprising by jwhyche · · Score: 0

    I just upgraded from the S4 to the S7 and it's by far the best phone I've had. Samsung pay is accepted 95% of the places I use it. The battery life is much better and the sound quality is good. The camera is almost perfect for a point and shoot. Its the first phone camera that is concisider good enough for photography use.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    1. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Odd, I just moved from an S4 to a Nexus 5X and am glad to be rid of the Samsung bloat. To each their own I guess.

    2. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I looked at the Nexus 5X. It's a damn fine phone, for sure. But it only comes in 16/32 GB variants. 32 is a lot more than I need, but 16 isn't quite enough. The cost to upgrade from 16 to 32 - 50 bucks. The cost difference between a 16 and 32 GB SD card - 6 bucks. Maybe they'll get their head out of their ass next cycle.

    3. Re:Not surprising by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Maybe they'll get their head out of their ass next cycle.

      Right. For me, no sd slot equals no deal.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  4. Numbers have NOT been released by turb · · Score: 1

    This article is pretty much click bait, Samsung hasn't actually reported official numbers so it's speculation as far as what the profit numbers actually are, much less Galaxy sales.

    1. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Not click bait, Pump and dump... If your theory is true.

      Actually, I think this story is true, even if it's on slashdot... But who really knows until the numbers get filed with the SEC..

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re: Numbers have NOT been released by thundercattt · · Score: 1

      Up here in Canada 80% of phones you can buy from a store is CrApple or Samsung. Then the rest, seems they just flooded the market every month with a new device. I was shopping for phones on websites, pg 1 had 4 iPhones 4 Samsung, had to get to page 4 to see a Nexus device.

    3. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by stevez67 · · Score: 1

      Yes, and they've almost caught up to 2012's Q3 profit (search statista dot com)

    4. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've never understood these sorts of comments. They're always presented as "well Apple is better because they make more money" but I always read it as "I'm happy because Apple is ripping me off". I mean, you do realize that if Apple is making most of the profits and you're buying Apple, it means they're ripping you off, right? Most sane people wouldn't be happy about that.

    5. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think it means the buyer is getting ripped off. But it certainly has nothing to do with quality.

    6. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by stevez67 · · Score: 1

      First, I never mentioned Apple. Apple has nothing to do with it. I said that the great accomplishment described in the article equals the less than stellar profits Samsung made in 2012. The fact that a company making a product someone buys is profitable does NOT mean the company is ripping anyone off, unless they're a non-profit entity. It means we live in a prosperous, capitalistic society where only profitable companies survive year to year. However, when I read detritus like this article which poses a 17% increase in profit as a great accomplishment, I cringe. In fact I cringe at most % increase accomplishments because what matters is what the increase is a percentage of. Samsung is a fine company with good devices, but they've done much better, profit-wise, in more recent years, and this year's increase is only part of a recovery from a dramatic reduction in profit.

    7. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      If Samsung has made decent profit while the rest of industry does very low to no profits, if that happened that'd be noteworthy.
      Now, like GP I be wary of a company that makes excessive profit on your back, like Apple or old time IBM but when it devolves to cut-throat 1% margin you can end up with garbage display screens, unusable laptop keyboards because they saved $1, or the current breed of unupgradable laptops.
      Sometimes, if you pay $1 more shared between $0.50 so you can have an SD slot and $0.50 more profit, I think that's the better deal.
      Ironically all lowest end phones have SD slot (but half the fashionable internal storage)

    8. Re: Numbers have NOT been released by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      From the other side of the ocean (that country that owns St-Pierre et Miquelon) you have the two suspects but also some carrier-branded Huawei, LG too, stuff like that (even Windows phones).
      Going to an equivalent of newegg there are tons of brand though, Taiwanese like Acer, Asus, and mainland China like Xiaomi, ZTE and I-don't-remember-what etc.

    9. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by lucm · · Score: 1

      Are you aware that merely 10% of the world's smartphone users are Americans? Samsung's numbers are global and they trade in multiple stock markets, who cares about the SEC

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    10. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by lucm · · Score: 1

      Exactly. Apple had a shot at taking the market and keeping it. But they insisted on those proprietary power adapters that they even changed for yet another proprietary adapter, they insisted on the lack of sd cards, cheap cameras, disposable hardware, etc. They went for the quick buck and shamelessly exploited their customers.

      Can you imagine the sustainable success it could have been if they had been just a little less greedy? Instead it will have lasted a mere decade.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    11. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Perhaps, but IF they trade in the USA it doesn't matter, they are bound by USA law in terms of what kind of information they can legally provide and how they provide it, including SEC filings. Even if some Korean officer of the company never steps foot in the USA the company can be held liable for things like "insider trading" and other SEC regulation violations said officer commits on foreign soil.

      If you choose to be listed here in the USA, you are bound by the laws of the USA... Sorry.. If you don't like that, don't volunteer to be listed here.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    12. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by lucm · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying "fuck the SEC and their rules", I'm saying this filing is not important in this context. A global company will not engage in "pump and dump" operations to make a quick buck in the USA in a single quarter when they're obviously already ahead of the pack worldwide and are unlikely to lose their market share for a long time.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    13. Re:Numbers have NOT been released by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder, how much profits the weak-by-design front glass replacements generate?

  5. Fanboi? by sjbe · · Score: 1

    I just upgraded from the S4 to the S7 and it's by far the best phone I've had.

    Umm, ok. Great. Sounding a little fanboi-ish but fair enough. One would hope that the new version was better than the old version or else what is the point of it?

    Samsung pay is accepted 95% of the places I use it.

    Really? You shop exclusively at these retailers? 1/3 of those retailers I've never even heard of much less shop at. Or are you saying that despite it being supposedly accepted at those places the transaction goes through 95% of the time you try to use it? Either way not much to get excited about.

    The camera is almost perfect for a point and shoot. Its the first phone camera that is concisider good enough for photography use.

    Smartphone cameras have been good enough for point and shoot photography for quite a while now. If you felt they weren't either you are a snob about your photography or you weren't paying attention. There is a reason sales of point and shoot cameras have fallen off a cliff in recent years.

    1. Re:Fanboi? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why did you link to the page that tells you what GIFT CARDS (it's right up top in big letters: "What specific merchant gift cards are offered?") are accepted?

      Samsung Pay works at any terminal with a mag stripe or NFC provided the bank that's paying for it supports it. The merchant and it's terminal has nothing to do with Samsung Pay compatibility.

      See here: http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-pay-what-you-need-to-know-faq/ This guy used it all over San Fran without caring which stores he went into.

      Someone's a big fanboi (not of Samsung) trying to devalue someone else's enthusiasm without justification. =P

    2. Re:Fanboi? by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Smartphone cameras have been good enough for point and shoot photography for quite a while now.

      Good enough to get a great shot of the backside of a baby running away or the place the kitten was one second ago, or great motion blur effects, sure. Good enough for somebody who has never used a DSLR and mainly collects headshots or tourist scenery. Nothing wrong with that, but please don't dismiss actual expertise in photography as snobbery. The optics just aren't there in a cell phone, sensors are far inferior and there is no such thing as an iris, among other issues. And DSLR technology does not stand still, far from it.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    3. Re:Fanboi? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He didn't say smartphone cameras were as good as DSLR cameras, he said they were good enough that they replaced point-and-shoot cameras. You're talking about different use-cases. For those interested in photography and shots that just aren't possible with the optics in cell phones, DSLR cameras are great. But for the swarming masses, cameras in smartphones have gotten really nice for their uses.

    4. Re:Fanboi? by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      He said "point and shoot", which works far better on a DSLR than any cell phone, there are just so many reasons. Try it, your definition of "good enough" will immediately change.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    5. Re:Fanboi? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He said "point and shoot", which works far better on a DSLR than any cell phone

      Words have meanings - unless they come from you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-and-shoot_camera

    6. Re:Fanboi? by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      For the reading impaired, he said "point and shoot photography", not "point and shoot camera". Point and shoot photography is a thing whether you do it with a cell phone or a more capable camera.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  6. They might be on to something.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Added sd slots. My guess is profits will go back up, when they get even wiser and add an external battery again.

  7. Yes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just say "no" to CrApple's Spyphone.

  8. Earnings guidance by jmcbain · · Score: 1

    Samsung, like many companies, releases earnings guidance early for investors to chew on. They consistently release the guidance the first week of each quarter and then the full earnings report by the end of the first month of each quarter. They have done this every year for as long as I can remember (going back 3-4 years now). The full earnings report's numbers are usually well within 1 percent of everything that was reported in the guidance. See, for example, the April 2016 guidance and the April 2016 report.

  9. Low bar by crmarvin42 · · Score: 1

    In "over two years"? How is 2 years a meaningful period of time for such a headline?

    --
    Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde
    1. Re:Low bar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mostest profit ever made since last quarter earning report.

    2. Re: Low bar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm waiting for the day that earnings go to realtime. Then we can boo and cheer a company's strategy 24/7!

    3. Re:Low bar by Tough+Love · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In "over two years"? How is 2 years a meaningful period of time for such a headline?

      Because it covers the period when it was widely prophesied that the sky would fall on the smartphone boom. Turns out, the sky is only falling on Apple.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    4. Re: Low bar by crmarvin42 · · Score: 1

      I don't see it. This means that slightly more than 2 years ago Samsung hit a slump and have just pulled themselves out of it. Apple just hit their slump last quarter. I don't see that as evidence that Only Apple is slumping, but that they are on different timelines for whatever reason. In fact, for Samsung, it doesn't even necessarily mean they've pulled out of the slump. For all we know (I haven't looked at their past performance) their peak could have been five years ago, and they are only now where they were 2 years ago when the slump was still on a downward trajectory. Recovering, but not yet recovered.

      --
      Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde
  10. Dependent on Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Samsung must be uneasy that one of their most profitable division is so dependent on the whims of Google. Time to force Google to start a Android consortium with other manufactures to guide future development or fork it with other manufacturers.

  11. Disappointed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... Samsung shipped out around 15 million S7 and S7 edge units ...

    I just bought a low-end Samsung phone: Once one subtracts Google play, it has fewer features than a 2010 model handset. Plus, the phone functions are a bit slow; it's really a tiny tablet that can make phone calls.

  12. fucking editors are useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "But interestingly, some of these Chinese players have started to cut the big margin that their phones enjoyed in the recent months to make more profit."

    Cutting margin means less profit. Unless you meant more sales.