Samsung net profit rises 52% in Q1

For the three months to March 31st, sales jumped 20% to 60.6 trillion won. It helped Samsung’s mobile business book 3.8 trillion in quarterly profits, up 82 percent from a year ago.

Total capital expenditure for the first quarter was 8.6 trillion yon (78 billion), which included 7.2 trillion (£65 billion) yon for Samsung’s semiconductor business and 0.8 trillion ($7 billion) yon for the display panel segment. Last week, A-series chip supplier TSMC offered weak guidance for the second quarter due to “softening” demand in the premium smartphone market.

Interestingly, while Samsung is warning of slow growth in part due to poor OLED demand and slow smartphone sales, OLED Rival LG Display is booming with record profits.

Samsung said as much in its latest earnings report, stating that profits in its display business were affected by slowing demand for flexible OLED panels.

Apple isn’t selling almost as numerous high-end iPhone X smartphones that it wanted to sell and was allegedly forced to halve production on weak demand in Q1 2018.

Last year, Samsung supplied Apple with 50 million OLED panels costing around $110 each. The company’s organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens are used in Apple’s flagship product, as well as its own smartphones.

The initial quarter revenue and profits of Samsung soared, but it warned of tougher times ahead in the mobile market, including a slowdown in the demand for its newest phones, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus.

For the Networks Business, the company expects increased earnings quarter-over-quarter for the second quarter and will focus on continued growth by expanding its LTE business and leading the world’s first commercialization of 5G. This is the sixth quarter in a row that Samsung has managed to increase its operating profits.

Apple is expected to release a trio of notched iPhones later this year, but there’s no information yet on what each of them might be officially called. That goal might not be served now, since Samsung charges around $100 for one OLED panel and this is what Apple will continue to pay for the iPhones it plans to release into the market later this year. The continued success of the Galaxy S8 also contributed.