Samsung Continues To Recover In Final Quarter Of 2015 Despite Missing Expectations

Samsung has published its financial projections for the last quarter of 2015, and it appears that the South Korean tech giant is still continuing to recover. However, its latest numbers did not do well enough to meet expectations set by industry analysts. In its report, the company stated that it is expecting to post a profit in the amount of $5.1 billion on total revenues of $44 billion for the final three months of 2015. This signifies an increase in profit of 15 percent compared to what it posted during the same quarter one year ago; but not as good as the previous quarter’s -- the fourth quarter decreased 7.5 percent compared to the third quarter’s. Industry analysts, however, have forecasted that Samsung would post total sales of about $5.5 billion. By the end of January, we should be able to determine the actual Q4 2015 figures of Samsung.

As explained by Kwon Oh-hyun, the co-chief executive officer of Samsung, 2016 could turn out to be another tough year for the South Korean mobile giant. During a speech he made in New York City (reported by the Wall Street Journal), Oh-hyun stated that the worldwide economy has been slow lately, and while there are emerging smartphone markets across the globe, nobody knows yet just how robust they are going to be this year. 

Everybody knows that Samsung is consistently locked in battle with Apple for global smartphone supremacy, but while the former still remains the number one seller of mobile devices in the world, profits have been hard to come by, especially with Chinese phone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi eating away at Samsung’s market share in markets such as India, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Then there is the expected slowing growth of the smartphone industry itself this year. The worldwide sales slump actually began in the summer of 2015, due to lukewarm growth in China, which is widely considered as the biggest market for smartphones in the planet right now. That had a cascading effect on other smartphone markets as well, and because Samsung had such a wide presence across multiple markets, the effect of the slump was heavier on the company, too. 

Sales woes notwithstanding, Samsung has a busy year ahead. It is likely that the South Korean tech giant will be introducing its new Galaxy S7 this year, and there is even talk that the company is planning to unveil its latest flagship device earlier than expected in order to compete with Apple’s current iPhone offerings, the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus. But will the Galaxy S7 help speed up Samsung’s recovery time? We will find out in 2016.