Samsung has reported its earnings for Q1 2017, in which the company has made operating profit of 9.90 trillion won ($8.7 billion), up 48.20% YoY for the quarter that ended March 31, 2017. This is its second biggest quarter ever and its highest ever for Q1, mainly to due to increase in memory and display businesses. It reported revenue of 50.55 trillion won (US$ $44.7), a slight increase from 49.78 trillion won last year and net profit of 7.68 trillion won (US$6.8 billion), a 46% increase from 5.25 trillion won for the same period a year earlier.
IM sector that includes Mobile Communications and Networks Businesses posted 23.50 trillion won consolidated revenue and 2.07 trillion won operating profit for the quarter, down 46.7% compared to 3.89 trillion won in the same quarter last year due to decline in S7 sales and price adjustments of Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. This was expected ahead of the launch of a new flagship this month.
Samsung said that smartphone and tablet market demand saw a slight decrease QoQ due to seasonal effects, but there was increase in shipments due to the newly released Galaxy A 2017 series and solid sales in the mid- to low-end segment in emerging markets.
In Q2 2017, Samsung expects market demand for smartphones and tablets to remain flat, and believes smartphone division to increase revenue and profit QoQ due to worldwide rollout of Galaxy S8 and S8+ that has seen robust initial sales after the launch on April 21st. It expects smartphone shipments to remain flat due to decreased sales of mid- to low-end smartphones.
For the 2017, Samsung anticipates market demand in smartphones to slightly increase with solid replacement demand growth in the mid- to high-end segment. Samsung said that it will aim to improve performance YoY by maximizing sales of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ and launch a new flagship smartphone in the second half of 2017, as it had promised earlier. This will be the successor of last year’s Galaxy Note7 that will soon be sold as refurbished units.