Samsung is reporting some strong sales in the third quarter of the financial year. In preliminary results released yesterday, the company made a profit of 10.1 trillion (Korean) won, an equivalent of $9.4 billion.
With sales for high end devices stagnating in 2013, it is Samsung’s indulgence in the low end and mid-range segments of the market that is said to have really paid off. Sales of budget Galaxy devices in countries where demand is huge like India, China and several Middle East countries has enabled the Korean device maker to be cushioned from shocks of slow high end smartphone sales throughout the year that have plagued everyone in the industry.
Lowering of the price of last year’s flagship devices like the Galaxy S III also brought with it some immediate returns as the device is said to be a major hit in the Asian market and elsewhere globally since it has the looks that its successor the Galaxy S4 borrowed and powerful internals that can still take on any 2013 device with age being its only setback.
Sales peaked at 59 trillion won in Q3. While rivals like HTC are bleeding, Samsung’s mobile division had its profits up by 25% raking in profits amounting to 6.3 trillion won. In that quarter alone, Samsung sold a total of about 85 million smartphones (yeah smartphones).
That is a 10 million increase from Q2’s 75 million smartphones sold. Out of those 85 million, the Galaxy S4 accounted for about 18 million which is a drop from those sold in Q2. That is understandable though since many who were to buy the Galaxy S4 opted to hold out for Samsung’s late offerings like the Galaxy Note 3 and some could’ve changed their minds for some rival devices that have also launched around the same time.
These are just preliminary results. The full Q3 results will be out later this month.
These Q3 results should be a precursor to an interesting fourth quarter since new Samsung devices are going on sale in Q4 and have been widely anticipated. Expect that 6.3 trillion won profit mark to be exceeded next time there is a Samsung earnings call.
Source: Bloomberg
