back to article Samsung Electronics' sales go OVER A CLIFF

Samsung Electronics, the phones-and-chips-and-tellies arm of the Chaebol, has reported a nasty set of numbers for 2015's first quarter. Let's go straight to a slide from the earnings call to show you just how nasty it is. Samsung Q1 2015 sales and profits Samsung Electronics Q1 2015 results. Click here to embiggen Those …

  1. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Peak Samsung

    Unlike the fruity firm been and gone.

    Samsung can't make bigger profits without their own OS as anyone can make an android phone and undercut them.

    This also shows that what made them big profits was having a bigger size phone, now that their main competitor has produced one their profits have evaporated.

    Now they are just a hardware manufacturer again and their phones are the equivalent of a PC (requiring android rather than Windows). We've all seen what is happening in the PC market.

    Lastly their strategy for phones has been exactly the same as Apple in the 1990's before Jobs return, in that they had loads of models with different features (none in one model) this confuses consumers and the same situation is the result, they need to slim down there product line to have any chance in the future.

  3. Ru'

    Be nice if the second table had some headings (or is it just me being slow?)

    1. VinceH

      It would be nice, but they aren't difficult to work out.

      The table is obviously divided up in two halfs; the top half breaks down sales by division, and the bottom half breaks down operating profit by division.

      The Column 1 contains the figures for the first quarter of 2015, andColumn 2 the figures for the first quarter of 2014. Column 3 represents the percentage increase or decrease between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015. Column 3 contains the Q4 2014 figures, and column 5 the percentage increase or decrease between Q4 2014 and Q1 2015.

      1. jamie 5

        Actually the columns differer between the two graphics. Why the second has no titles is strange.

        The second data is Q1'15 | Q1'14 | Q4'15

        IM operating profit actually grew QoQ but plummeted YoY. El Reg just wanted a big scary number hence the column flip.

        You can see the actual source data from Samsung here:

        http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/ir/ireventpresentations/

        earningsrelease/downloads/2012/20150429_conference_eng.pdf

      2. VinceH
        Facepalm

        WTF did my post above get a downvote? It accurately states what each of the five columns of figures are.

        In some cases, downvotes are perfectly valid and I welcome them (when I'm trolling users of a certain type of tech, for example), but this just baffles the hell out of me.

        Addendum: Just to clarify when I referred to the top half/bottom half, I wasn't referring to the two images and calling one the top half, and the other the bottom half - which I've just realised is what Jamie 5 appears to be "correcting" me on in his first sentence.

        Look at the words I used, and the second image. Top half: Sales, broken down by division (clue: word at top "Sales", followed by rows for the divisions it is broken down by). Bottom half, operating profit broken down by division (clue: words at top of that half "Operating Profit", followed by a row for the divisions it is broken down by).

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lightly used LED tv blew its motherboard after 13 months - Samsungs' response = Middle Finger - luckily we had an extended warranty which meant we didn't have to faff around trying to assert our rights under the durability of goods regs - one insurance cheque later and the TV was replaced with a Panasonic.

    Galaxy s3LTE had a failure of USB socket, at 15 months, I phoned Samsungs Support number the response = kerching please, Phone fixed by third party and eventually replaced with iPhone 6+ - Galaxy sold. I was later told by a Samsung Rep that I "should have taken it into a Samsung shop" (there are these things?) but as I told him, there's nothing like that within 80 miles of where I live, which is why I phoned their Support people in the first place. Local dealers are just that, there to sell stuff... they are not interested in problems.

    I wouldn't have a Samsung product as a gift now. I took the same line after some issues with Hitachi stuff in the 80's, including a handle falling apart on a radio/tape unit that I was carrying across a station concourse when traveling - the CS droid said that I shouldnt have been carrying it by the handle...

    Customer loyalty is easily lost by poor quality and bad Customer service.

    1. Tromos

      In the EU all these types of product are guaranteed for 2 years and the point of sale is responsible. If the manufacturer offers one year the shop can pass it on to them during that period but has to take on the responsibility for the second year. Any local dealers who are not interested in problems can have their interest aroused by the small claims court.

      1. Gene Cash Silver badge

        @Tromos

        Did you not read where he explicitly said "we didn't have to faff around trying to assert our rights under the durability of goods regs" ??

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @Tromos

          Exactly, I had a HP printer fail with a known "fatal"error code after just over a year of domestic use, The attitude of Comet (remember them?) stank they said we would have to pay to get an engineers report about the defect from a company they use and then they would consider it. HP said "talk to the retailer".

          Printer replaced with a Canon, Comets closure watched with a certain satisfaction, especially in terms of the less than helpful staff we encountered, hopefully the good staff (they had to have some somewhere....) found jobs with a better company, but sucky CS didn't help comet to survive

        2. Tromos

          Re: @Tromos

          I did read it and expressly dismissed it. I'm sure that anyone with an extended warranty just waltzes into the shop and tells them their purchase is malfunctioning and instantly walks out with a full refund. Oh yes, no faffing around at all.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is anyone surprised ?

    They are pricing themselves out of the market. Higher than Apple prices for less than Apple products.

    As someone mentioned earlier, there are umpteen Android Manufacturers from China at £100 and under giving you 90 percent of the phone/specs that Samsung sells at £600 plus.

    Why should they stick to Samsung, then? Besides, this also gives the buyers ( at £ 100 a pop) the chance to replace their models every year and keep up with the Joneses, for the forthcoming 5 years and still be quids in ? It also has the advantage of not being stuck on a 24 month contract, that invariably goes with a New model phone upgrade ! The Maths just does not add up any more for Samsung.

    In my opinion, £200 is the sweet spot for a top range of any Android phone, despite all the claims and gimmicks to the contrary.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sales are Edging up

    Those high end goods are for the more discerning high end customer.

    They cater for both, no pretence actually needed either.

  7. cambsukguy

    High end phones still sell well...

    ...because even paying £50/month instead of £20 or less is just not that hard for someone on an above-average salary, especially if they are young without a mortgage and even possibly without a car.

    A high-end contract is the price of a restaurant meal every month but gives you unlimited data and calls for something you utilise almost continuously (from looking around while walking through London I am surprised that the pedestrian fatality rate hasn't doubled lately).

    And, if you must have the high-end phone and despise Apple you will definitely consider Samsung.

    I won't consider either, even if I can afford it, but then I am writing as a member of a different demographic spending less than a tenner/month - unwilling to pay for shiny, full stop.

  8. tomban
    Joke

    I'd never heard the word "embiggen" until I started reading El Reg.

    1. Vic

      I'd never heard the word "embiggen" until I started reading El Reg.

      It was a Simpsons joke originally...

      Vic.

  9. MeRp

    Samsung shot itself in the foot on the geek/hacker side of things in the mobile space by taking far too seriously the "need" to lock down the devices and prevent rooting/romming them, at least in the US. The hardware is great, but if you can't access that hardware, then there isn't much point.

    On the general consumer side they end up costing as much or more than an iPhone, but do not have the chic cachet, so it is a bit of a hard sell.

  10. chasil

    Better Phones

    I used ghettoroot and safestrap on a Samsung phone last night.

    The script moved a huge pile of .apks into /system/.jail - I asked it to remove extra bloat, which turned it into an Amazon massacre.

    I have not heard that Apple was bundling an NFL app into iOS. Nor are they bundling 3rd party spyware.

    Samsung can make money selling good hardware with open software at a reasonable price. They will not make money when they lock bootloaders, allow carriers to snoop or otherwise compromise privacy, or use Knox and friends to keep users from exercising control over their property.

    Samsung, a phone that is purchased from you no longer belongs to you. Nor does it belong to the carrier to which it is bound.

    If you can't accept this marketing reality, someone else certainly will.

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