Samsung Expecting Sharp Drop in Fourth Quarter Profits

Samsung today said in a regulatory filing that its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2018 have likely dropped sharply due to weak memory chip demand and growing competition in the smartphone business.

As noted by Reuters, Samsung's operating profit for the three months ending in December was at approximately at 10.8 trillion Korean won, aka $9.67 billion, well below the 13.2 trillion won predicted by analysts and a 29 percent drop from the year-ago quarter.

This marks Samsung's first decline in quarterly operating profit in two years, with more detailed information set to be announced during Samsung's earnings in January.

The news about Samsung comes after Apple last week announced that it was lowering its revenue guidance for the first fiscal quarter of 2019, aka the fourth calendar quarter. Apple cited a number of reasons for the guidance downgrade:

iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR launch timing compared to iPhone X timing in 2017
A strong U.S. dollar
Supply constraints on Apple Watch Series 4, iPad Pro, AirPods, and MacBook Air
Economic weakness in emerging markets, specifically China
Trade tensions with China
Lower than anticipated iPhone revenue, primarily in China
Weak iPhone upgrade numbers in some developed markets due to fewer carrier subsidies and low-priced battery replacements in 2018

Apple lowered its guidance to $84 billion, down from the $89 to $93 billion guidance that was shared in November. At $84 billion, Apple will see a year-over-year revenue drop in 2019 after pulling in $88.3 billion during the first fiscal quarter of 2018.

Tag: Samsung

Top Rated Comments

HiRez

62 months ago

Copying Apple again. :cool:

Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)

noraa

as the article points out, much of this is due to Apple's lower demand for iPhones.

Nowhere in the article is anything like that mentioned.

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

LaraCroft835

this will be fun and interesting to read the comments from those highly critical of Apple and Tim Cook the other week. Let the spin begin.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Dario69

I am expecting to hear crickets if even that. It doesn’t fit the narrative the arm chair quarterbacks or CEOs that populate this forum gravitate to. If anything it helps negates the several 400, 500 responsed threads that end up in “I told you so” grandstanding. So I expect mostly silence or “But, but, but Apple....” type of replies.

So much bile and negativity in these Mac forums lately. The iPhone sub forum is good example. The business related topics are consuming that forum. The moderators need push that stuff off more. I am visiting this website’s forums less and less now because it is all about Apple needing to do this or Apple needing to do that. Air your greviences in the right sub forum people. I want to read about hardware and issues, not personal pet peeves with Apple because you think your phone costs too much. Not that I don’t disagree but find the right sub forum or thread to air your greviences. It seems like every thread is about this now.

Sorry, I digress. Yes, let the spin begin :)

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

nwcs

I guess this is Tim Cook’s fault as well, according to some. Reality is smartphones have hit market saturation and either need to be reinvented or fade away in favor of something better (whatever that is).

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Junior117

So I guess Samsung is doomed along with Apple, right?

... right?

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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