Samsung’s group operating profit soared 48% on the year to 9.9 trillion won. Revenue added 1.54 percent from a year earlier to 50.55 trillion won in the March quarter, but net income surged 46.29 percent to 7.68 trillion won. The semiconductor division’s profit was the biggest-ever in Samsung’s history, topping the previous record high of 4.95 trillion won tallied in the previous quarter. The smartphone division achieved an operating profit of only W2.07 trillion, or half of what it earned a year earlier, due to the Galaxy Note 7 debacle, but the semiconductor division posted a record operating profit of W6.3 trillion. Pre-orders for its Galaxy S8 smartphone launched in April were better than many analysts had expected, raising hopes that it would make up for the failure and costly withdrawal of the fire-prone Note 7s a year ago. Like these phones, people are now expecting Samsung to use this design idea to their upcoming devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Admittedly, Samsung’s overall sales remained stable if we believe the latest figures of IDC But market share declined by one point (23.8% in 2016, 22.8% in 2017). While those in the USA can forget about seeing a Samsung Galaxy S8 Duos, those in China have something to smile about. This new Smartphone is selling big even though the price is high. Investors have also pressed the firm to overhaul its byzantine ownership structure, which enables the founding Lee family to control the vast Samsung empire with complex web of cross-holdings across dozens of group units. The operating margin that measures the income against sales rose 6.2 percentage points on year to 19.6 percent in the first quarter. Samsung has been struggling to promote the Galaxy S7 to recoup losses from the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. However, fortunately the fix to the Samsung Galaxy S8 red tint problem lies in a software update which is now being rolled out. Also during this time, the company was involved in a bribery and corruption scandal involving the, now impeached and imprisoned, president of South Korea .
Samsung released its new flagship phone, the Galaxy S8, for sale in the US last week – too late to count for the first quarter. Separately, Samsung said it would repurchase and cancel 1.15 million common and preferred shares, as part of a 9.3 trillion Korean won share buyback program this year.
