Attack of Samsung gadget spam

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

chickens coming home to roost?



Samsung Electronics forecasts 60% fall in quarterly profit

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29516806

Samsung Electronics has forecast a 60% fall in quarterly operating profit from a year ago because of slowing Galaxy smartphone sales.

The world's biggest mobile phones and TV maker said it expects an operating income of 4.1tn won ($3.8bn; £2.5bn) for the three months to September.

That is below analysts' expectations for earnings of 5.2tn won.

The South Korean company will publish full financial results later this month.


Samsung's mobile division, its biggest business, has been struggling to maintain its dominance against rivals such as Apple and Chinese smartphone-makers Xiaomi and Lenovo.

Its flagship Galaxy smartphone line has been losing market share to cheaper models that also have large screens and multiple features.

The firm said quarterly sales amounted to 47tn won, which was below analyst estimates for 50.3tn won.

"Smartphone shipments increased marginally amid intense competition," Samsung said in a statement.

"However, the operating margin declined due to increased marketing expenditure and lowered average selling price."

The company also said it is "preparing new smartphone line-ups featuring new materials and innovative designs, as well as a series of new mid-to-low end smartphones".

Samsung shares rose about 1.6% in Seoul despite the weak profit outlook.
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Analysis: Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC technology editor

Samsung has been the standout success of the smartphone era - certainly in terms of building market share, with the South Korean firm overtaking Nokia to become the world's leading phone manufacturer.

It is still holding on to the number one spot, but competition at both the top and budget ends of the market is now exerting an intense pressure on its profits.

Samsung still has around 25% of the market, down from 33% a year ago, but a trio of Chinese firms Lenovo, Huawei and Xiaomi have rapidly grabbed a big slice. It was the whole Galaxy range which propelled Samsung's profits ever higher and phones like the latest Galaxy Note 4 still get glowing reviews.

But it hasn't managed to pull off the same trick as Apple, which continues to charge luxury prices and make chunky profits on its new phones.

The recent launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is a case in point - analysts say Apple's profit margins have come down but are still above 40%.

Samsung is struggling to keep prices up at the high end, and with smartphones now becoming a commodity product it's failing to match its Chinese rivals' prices for similar phones. The competition is only going to get more intense - and it isn't clear how the Korean giant can respond.
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Chip plant

Samsung announced on Monday that it would spend about $15bn on a new semiconductor plant in South Korea, to meet the growing demand for memory chips.

It is set to be the biggest single investment in a chip factory, and construction will begin in the first half of next year with operations due to start in 2017.

Samsung is a major chip supplier to other electronics firms, including major rival Apple.

Samsung is also facing some pressure at its consumer electronics division, which makes televisions, air conditioners and other appliances.

Sales and overall profit are forecast to have dropped because currency fluctuations made Japanese-made rival products cheaper to buy.

The Korean won strengthened about 3.5% against the Japanese yen in the third quarter.

[Morpheus]

The market becoming quite saturated so that is expected.

And there are sooo many brand options.

[pioneer]

Saturated by whom?

[sliderz1]

profit sharing in order

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

The market becoming quite saturated so that is expected.

And there are sooo many brand options.

saturated with what?

[pioneer]

Is how he say "becoming"

Then "sooo many brand options"

Good thing I verified the thread title.

[S_2NR]

More like the progression of mobile tech is slowing down. Upgrades to phone models now aren't much of an upgrade so people are keeping their phones longer.

[Morpheus]

The market becoming quite saturated so that is expected.

And there are sooo many brand options.

saturated with what?

Smartphones with larger screens especially. Each major phone maker has a few models (4.5" and up).

As said in post above. You have an S3 or S4, do you really NEED and S5? Have an S4, do you really need an iphone 6 or Note 4?

Just my opinion though. Real world stats may prove otherwise.

So pioneer Samsung alone have multiple big screen phones?

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

If the market is indeed saturated as you guys state does that mean we should be observing something similar in profit falls for Apple as well? Reduced sales basically?

[Morpheus]

Time will tell. I just made a guess though....

[noshownogo]

More like the progression of mobile tech is slowing down. Upgrades to phone models now aren't much of an upgrade so people are keeping their phones longer.

This.

[pioneer]

The market becoming quite saturated so that is expected.

And there are sooo many brand options.

saturated with what?

Smartphones with larger screens especially. Each major phone maker has a few models (4.5" and up).

As said in post above. You have an S3 or S4, do you really NEED and S5? Have an S4, do you really need an iphone 6 or Note 4?

Just my opinion though. Real world stats may prove otherwise.

So pioneer Samsung alone have multiple big screen phones?

3 models vs 30+

k then

[ismithx]

More like the progression of mobile tech is slowing down. Upgrades to phone models now aren't much of an upgrade so people are keeping their phones longer.

This.

this... Moore's law is reaching it's end, hardware is going nowhere fast

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ slow down with super computers, but not so much with desktop and mobile devices. Intel made a statement recently that they did not see a slow down in their processors in the near future.

The main issue is battery. Battery tech has lagged behind greatly.
We can probably get a phone to do a lot of cool things today, but the battery may just last an hour making the device impractical. So what has been happening is that the hardware is dumbed down to make better use of the battery.

this isn't the conversation here though

If the market is indeed saturated as you guys state does that mean we should be observing something similar in profit falls for Apple as well? Reduced sales basically?

Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6's in the first weekend

Forbes is reporting that results are showing Apple has already sold 21 million so far (in less than 3 weeks) and Apple is predicting 80 million by the end of the year

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsk ... ot-streak/

Compare that to Samsung S5 sales for the entire month of May at only 5 million units. In fact according to Reuters, Apple sold 7 million iPhone 5S units in the same month of May.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/ ... P720140716

That's an 8 month old device outselling a 2 month old device by 40% more units.
Ouch!

[pioneer]

http://bgr.com/2014/02/04/galaxy-s5-act ... zoom-leak/

Here comes the gadget spam: Galaxy S5 Active and S5 Zoom uncovered

"Just as we expected would be the case in 2014, Samsung seemingly plans to continue using its extremely effective “gadget spam” strategy this year and flood the market with multiple versions of its new flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone."

[ismithx]

^ slow down with super computers, but not so much with desktop and mobile devices. Intel made a statement recently that they did not see a slow down in their processors in the near future.

The main issue is battery. Battery tech has lagged behind greatly.
We can probably get a phone to do a lot of cool things today, but the battery may just last an hour making the device impractical. So what has been happening is that the hardware is dumbed down to make better use of the battery.

this isn't the conversation here though

If the market is indeed saturated as you guys state does that mean we should be observing something similar in profit falls for Apple as well? Reduced sales basically?

Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6's in the first weekend

Forbes is reporting that results are showing Apple has already sold 21 million so far (in less than 3 weeks) and Apple is predicting 80 million by the end of the year

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsk ... ot-streak/

Compare that to Samsung S5 sales for the entire month of May at only 5 million units. In fact according to Reuters, Apple sold 7 million iPhone 5S units in the same month of May.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/ ... P720140716

That's an 8 month old device outselling a 2 month old device by 40% more units.
Ouch!

yeah right....
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/15/inte ... arly-2014/
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/17 ... il-q4-2014

fact is, it will affect all computing industries regardless, pc and mobile.

the intel processors you can actually get are using a 22nm process, and the more recent qualcomm snapdragon processors use a 28nm process. Intel is already having problems producing a 14nm process, so I don't see anybody else really surpassing them and pushing it out the door anytime soon.

With regard to phone processors, they've come far in the last 7 years. from single core <500mhz to quad-core 2+Ghz, there really isn't much room for improvement, without eating into battery life and generating excessive heat. making processors more dense would have solved the problem tho

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

Anybody who really believes Moore's law will be violated soon need to go check their history. It's nothing new to hear this rhetoric. I remember when the gigahertz wars were rampant and people were saying Moore's law would be violated. That didn't happen as companies found work arounds. So I expect to see the same now. Intel's projected slow down in sales would be due to people buying fewer PC's. Not because of any technological hurdle.

[ismithx]

Ok, lemme ask the question, what is your definition of Moore's law? the misconception exists that it has to do with computing power, this is not true. Moore's law has to do with transistor density doubling every two years. That is; things getting smaller. It is true that we have found workarounds to improve processor performance when we run out of space in one area, this is just us running out of space in another area. Furthermore, we can't engineer things to be infinitely small.. so... Moore's law will run out

[pioneer]

http://pocketnow.com/2014/10/07/samsung ... ofits-sink

Samsung’s Q3 profits sink a staggering 60% compared to last year

"If you’re the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world, we also expect you to be the most successful one when it comes to income, but Samsung has not been having its best times lately. We’ve seen the company’s numbers slip quarter over quarter, and instead of things changing with its new line of products, problems just get deeper. We’ve seen the company move employees around in order to make its mobile division more efficient, but today’s numbers might require some more of that.

Samsung’s Q3 results show that the company’s profits have sunk 60% when compared to the same quarter last year. Q3/2013 showed the company enjoying a healthy $9.6 billion, and in this quarter the numbers are between $3.6 billion and $4 billion. Sadly Samsung hasn’t provided any specifics on its sales, but analysts from the Wall Street Journal predict that the launch of the iPhone 6 has squeezed Samsung’s profits on the high-end market, and Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and Lenovo have done the same for its entry-level market in Asia."

[ismithx]

the problem with sammy is that it is wasting money pumping out a massive phone lineup. better to keep your product line simple, saves dev and maintenance costs

[pioneer]

Den how gunta go argue over who fone waterproof...who fone have zoom lens...who own have mini etc

[Morpheus]

The market becoming quite saturated so that is expected.

And there are sooo many brand options.

saturated with what?

Smartphones with larger screens especially. Each major phone maker has a few models (4.5" and up).

As said in post above. You have an S3 or S4, do you really NEED and S5? Have an S4, do you really need an iphone 6 or Note 4?

Just my opinion though. Real world stats may prove otherwise.

So pioneer Samsung alone have multiple big screen phones?

3 models vs 30+

k then

And?

[Morpheus]

But they really have too many. It annoying if you have to try to narrow it down.

I can agree with that.

But that's their strategy. When it stops working tgey will have to change.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

But they really have too many. It annoying if you have to try to narrow it down.

I can agree with that.

But that's their strategy. When it stops working tgey will have to change.

might be sooner than later

Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6's in the first weekend

Forbes is reporting that results are showing Apple has already sold 21 million so far (in less than 3 weeks) and Apple is predicting 80 million by the end of the year

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsk ... ot-streak/

Compare that to Samsung S5 sales for the entire month of May at only 5 million units. In fact according to Reuters, Apple sold 7 million iPhone 5S units in the same month of May.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/ ... P720140716

That's an 8 month old device outselling a 2 month old device by 40% more units.
Ouch!

[iMan]

Apple Fanboy (aka "Pioneer")
1. A person who believes in almost anything that apple says and gives into it's marketing strategy. 2. A prime target for apple marketers to impose their superfluously costing products to.
3. A person who honestly believes that Windows XP or Vista is Archaic, Inferior, Does Not Work, or just plain ripped off ideas from the Mac OS.
4. One who waits in line for days in some instances, for Apple keynote speeches.
5. One who believes adding an "i" prefix to anything is automatically superior to anything that does not have an "i" in front of it.
Most apple fanboys will possess three or more of the following:

1. iPod
2. iPhone
3. Macbook
4. iMac
5. Mac Pro
6. 3 or more Apple Connector Cables
7. A membership at Macheist.com

Who the heck cares about ios vs android. I have ipods, ipad and an apple tv. They work, not perfect, but they get the job done. You may think when i wanted a phone i would have bought an iPhone...but no. I got me a S5. Wanted to try something different.
Its a matter of choice. It's good to have choices so if you dont like brand "x" then there's always brand "y". Both phones manufacturers are very good and have their merits, so it's not simply a case of which one is best, but which one is best for you. Don't create a whole blasted tread to bash samsung. I aint no fanboy. Tread is really pointless.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Btw i wasn't disappointed.

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

Ok, lemme ask the question, what is your definition of Moore's law? the misconception exists that it has to do with computing power, this is not true. Moore's law has to do with transistor density doubling every two years. That is; things getting smaller. It is true that we have found workarounds to improve processor performance when we run out of space in one area, this is just us running out of space in another area. Furthermore, we can't engineer things to be infinitely small.. so... Moore's law will run out

I follow the same definition that you do in terms of transistor count. I also believe transistor count doubling, while it may not lead to out and out doubling of computing power, allows for significant improvement of features that we may not even realise we needed. I do not think that the shrinkage will stop anytime soon is what I was stating and my main point was that the current state of Moore's law has nothing to do with Samsung's phones and reduced profits at this point in time. i.e. Samsung's reduced profits are not a result of a lack new features necessarily due to Moore's law constraints.

[Strauss]

People have a misconception that it is iOS vs Android as if all the Android phone makers are best buddies.

Every Android phone maker wants to stomp on the other. It's business as usual. You can see the Android folks arguing every day about which device is better... Samsung vs Sony vs HTC vs Moto vs Oppo Find vs Huawei vs LG vs BLU vs ...

Samsung is the only one of them making a profit because of their marketing and market bombardment.

What is so sad is Android is [practically] "free" and still all those companies are in the red.

[pioneer]

Many fanboys believe this thread is about ios vs android.

[iMan]

I ain't no fanboy!

[iMan]

People like having choices...