According to a regulatory filing, Samsung estimates operating profit for the second quarter to be about 8.1 trillion won, or about $7 billion, above analysts’ expectations of 7.8 trillion won. The last time Samsung raked in more than KRW 8 trillion of operating income was during the January-March period in 2014 when it reported KRW 8.5 trillion in operating profit. It will mark Samsung’s strongest profit performance in more than two years, and it’s thanks in large part to strong sales of Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge flagship smartphones. Galaxy S7 models, which were timed to go on sale earlier than usual this year, have capitalised on a lull in new iPhones from Apple. Sales are also seen to increase slightly from the previous quarter’s sales of 49.8 trillion won.
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After rumors first popped up just two weeks ago, Samsung has today officially announced the Olympic Games Edition of its flagship Samsung Galaxy S7 edge smartphone.
Samsung has not revealed any detail of the Galaxy Note 7, which is estimated to be launched in August this year.
Stronger profit from OLED as more smartphone makers adopt the technology helped the make up for losses from liquid crystal displays. There could be some manufacturing-related improvements as well; when Samsung first debuted its dual-curved screen phones in 2015, the firm struggled to meet demand amid potential yield issues.
A potential slump in smartphone sales in the third quarter could be “offset by improving earnings of the semiconductor division and Samsung Display”, according to a report from Shinhan Investment Corporation, a Korean securities brokerage. The high RAM capacity will be one of the major selling points for the Note 7, and that only means that Samsung might be testing a lite variant of the smartphone.
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This is in contrast to its American rival Apple, which in April reported its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years and its first year-on-year drop in iPhone sales. After the company released its earnings forecast for the second quarter, a report from Korea claims the company has shipped a total of 26 million Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge units so far.
