Samsung closed the third quarter with a net profit of 4.400 trillion won ($3,9 billion), down by 17% compared to the year before. Revenue fell 7% to 47.800 trillion won ($42 billion), while theoperating profit contracted nearly 30% to 5.200 trillion won ($4,6 billion), in line with estimates provided by Samsung itself. Looking more closely, the mobile business contributed just 100 billion won ($88 million) to overall operating profit, compared to 2.400 trillion won in the corresponding months of 2015. “The mobile business has seen a significant drop in earnings on a quarterly basis due to the effects of the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7,” the company admitted, but specified that smartphone sales remained solid to other flagship devices.
Although growth in smartphone sales slowed during the quarter to its lowest level in two years, Samsung firmly maintained its global leadership in the sector, according to data released by research firm Strategy Analytics. In fact, Samsung sold 75,3 million smartphones in the quarter ended September 30, a figure lower than 10% on an annual basis, with a market share of 20,1% worldwide, which positions it at the top although it has been declining since 23,7% held 12 months ago, thus resisting the increased aggressiveness of Chinese brands such as Huawei Technologies, Oppo and Vivo.
