We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
SAMSUNG IS HOPING the start of 2015 will mark the beginning of a long-awaited recovery as its slide in profits slows down.
Samsung released its earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2015 and while it’s positive – the company expects its profits to be the highest in three quarters – the company will still hope its upcoming smartphones will help drive recovery and boost profits.
Operating profit is expected to reach 5.9 trillion Korean won (€4.9 billion) while sales are expected to be 47 trillion Korean won (€39.7 billion). However, its operating profit was a decline of 30.5% from the same period a year earlier, a figure that has slowed down compared to 37.4% year-on-year in Q4 2014, and 60% in Q3 2014.
The news will come as a boost to Samsung as it prepares to launch its long-awaited smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge, this Friday (19th April).
It also comes after a turbulent year for the company as it coped with a competitive smartphone market. A drop in smartphone sales and increased marketing costs hurt the company, but its profits were cushioned by its sales of memory chips.
It reported its smallest quarterly profit in nearly three years in Q3 2014 while Q4 2014 saw an improvement in performance despite operating profit continuing to fall.
The company has been trying to revitalise its smartphone range because of this. The most noticeable change was switching from a plastic design to metal as well as reducing the number of devices it releases over the year.
On the other hand, the company has been moving into other areas like VR, thanks to its partnership with Oculus Rift, and it’s preparing the final touches for Samsung Pay which will launch in the US later this year.
It has reportedly struck a deal with Apple to help produce A9 chips for the next generation of iPhones and other devices. The company already makes memory and processor chips for Apple and other mobile device makers.
Samsung will release the official report for Q1 2015 at the end of the month.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
€880 for the S6 Edge. Good luck with that..
The OnePlus 64GB is is a monster for half the price
Just bought one myself. Less than half the price of the new S6.
What’s so good about the OnePlus if you don’t mind me asking? Don’t know very much about them.
Fantastic specs for a very decent price. Haven’t heard a single bad thing about it and certainly have not experienced anything worth complaining about while using it.
I would definitely recommend checking them out and looking at all the info you can find on it if you were in the market for a new phone.
Got one on Friday Stephen,can’t fault it! Great phone for half the price of a Samsung
Got an OPO too, great phone for the price. I still think the Note 4 is the best phone out there at the moment, but the OPO being half the price makes it irresistible. Hands down the best value phone out there now, just needs Lollipop update.
One Plus have an Irish website now too.
Oneplus should be releasing a oneplus two in autumn too, which I’m gonna wait for. The Chinese. A great bunch of lads.
Cool thanks, don’t feel like spending >500 euro on a phone!
Smaller range, switching away from plastic, integrated battery… Sounds like a good strategy surprised no one thought of that before.
Next thing they’ll be naming their company after a fruit. Do Samsung make photocopying machines? Now that would be a circular reference…
The way Samsung has copied Apple’s phablet range is so typical of Samsung’s copier mentality. I mean Apple take the time and expense to invent a whole new phone form factor and are ridiculed for it before it is mass adopted by consumers.
Then Samsung jut go out and copy it. Typical!!!
http://www.cultofmac.com/95614/how-steve-jobs-invented-the-computer-mouse-by-stealing-it-from-xerox/
There appears to be a belief that one can earn increased revenue and profits ad infinitum. A market has limits – even for a company like Samsung. What happens when everyone has a smartphone? Do they want us to have 2?
Can’t believe I left my iPhone for an S5… disaster of a phone, especially since last update.. seriously slow and laggy. Apps are constantly crashing. Disaster! Pity i’m stuck in a contract for another 18months
Life is so unfair sometimes
I got another update on mine about 3 weeks ago and it has fixed all the problems that came with the previous update.
Samsung haven’t had a good phone since the S2. HTC is the way to go anymore.
Note 4 is the best phone out there atm.
With no sd slot and a non-removable battery not going about things the right way.
Samesung yawwwwwwnnnnnn
I’ve moved to windows from android lately, well impressed and the phones are very reasonable!
I dont have one but I must say, I do like the Tiles on it.
Samsung have 76.6% of the smartphone market.at q4 2014…doesn’t that tell it’s own story…..The others are barely on the chart. ..you get what you pay for at the end of the day…..!
Is it not Friday the 17th they’re out?
Paid €770 incl. shipping for a sim free galaxy note edge from Pixmania only three weeks ago. There are deals out there.
Why didn’t you get one then ?
Lol, are you interested in some ‘steel’ gates? 770 for a phone when you can get a One plus One for 365 euro.
Samsung S5 great phone when it works.
Samsung have made a big boo boo with the S6 a step backwards from the S5 …..looks nice but they usually improve on features take S4 to S5 but they have gone backwards no sd no removable battery no waterproofing phone is very like an iPhone strange for such an innovative company I for one will be hanging on to my S5 won’t be rushing to get one like in previous years ….leaves door wide open for HTC and Sony to entice current S4 and S5 users over to them with upgraded devices ….
Samsung are good at other products, but I dont know if their Android phones are as good as the sony Xperia range, even when sony was partners with Ericsson, the phone, and the cameras were very good.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say