Samsung publishes its expected results for the first quarter of 2019, and there is nothing to celebrate. The South Korean group estimates that its revenues fell by 14% and profits by 60% compared to the same period last year. This is due to the price decline of memory chips and the low demand in the smartphone market.
Samsung has issued a statement in which it discusses its forecast of results for the first quarter of 2019. The figures are not yet final, but the trend is clearly not good. The group announces profits of 4.9 billion dollars over the period, a decrease of 60% compared to last year. The turnover amounts to 40.7 billion dollars, down 14%.
Samsung: Galaxy S10 sales are not enough
The difficulties of the South Korean giant are multiple. First, there is the collapse of the price of memory chips, which represent one of the main markets of Samsung. This coupled with the fact that the demand does not take off, the income necessarily suffer. This activity also allows the company to generate very large margins, hence the profit that suffers far more than the turnover.
Then, smartphone sales are in free fall in the first quarter of 2019. The market is saturated and smartphones with foldable screen (Galaxy Fold) and compatible 5G (Galaxy S10 5G) are not yet available. And they are not going to be products of appeal anyway when they are. Samsung sells fewer smartphones than before in volume, but especially sees the orders of the competing manufacturers for components contract. We think in particular of its OLED slabs. Moreover, the attractiveness of the iPhone is expensive for Samsung in this sense.
Still positive, the sales of the Galaxy S10 are doing well and avoid a total debacle for the last quarter, even if the smartphone has been available for only a few weeks.
