Samsung posts highest-ever Q1 operating profit on revenue of $44.7 billion
Samsung shared its earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2017 last month. It expected the operating profit to come in at 10.1 trillion won or $9 billion. The company today reported its Q1 2017 earnings and hasn’t strayed too far from its guidance.
Samsung brought in an operating profit of 9.9 trillion won or $8.7 billion. This makes Q1 2017 Samsung’s second-best quarter ever and also represents the highest-ever operating profit for the January to March period. Overall revenue came in at 50.55 trillion won or $44.7 billion.
The company points out that revenue from its mobile business fell during the quarter due to a decline in flagship product sales. However, its quarter was salvaged by increased sales for the memory and display businesses. Profits were driven by the semiconductor and display panel segments.
Samsung mentions in the earnings release that even though smartphone and tablet demand saw a slight decrease quarter-over-quarter, smartphone shipments actually increased slightly during this period.
This was primarily due to the new Galaxy A (2017) series and robust sales in the mid- to low-end segment in emerging markets. The division’s overall profits decreased due to price adjustments of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.
The company is looking to improve the performance of its handset division year-over-year by maximizing sales of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ this quarter but it does expect competition to intensify with newly launched smartphones in the market.
