back to article You hear that, Mr Cook? Samsung's profits have gone UP

Samsung Electronics is toasting a massive hike in its Q1 profits fuelled by sales of smartmobes and tabs but warned cheaper kit flooding the market may "dampen" its next quarterly numbers. Sales for the period ended 31 March climbed by 16 per cent to 52.87tn won (£30.7bn), boosting operating profits by 50 per cent to 8.78tn …

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  1. Ted Treen
    Devil

    Plain & Simple

    "...but warned cheaper kit flooding the market may "dampen" its next quarterly numbers..."

    In other words, someone else will affect Samsung in the same way Samsung affected Apple.

    Poetic and ironic...

    PS

    The style and general "Sun/NoTW" approach to writing headlines suggests that 'Kunert' is a pseudonym for the late, unlamented Ms Leach. Either that or an acolyte...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Plain & Simple

      Exactly what happened with tablets. Rivals to the iPad appeared at similar prices then the rest of the tech world produced cheaper less useful devices.

      1. Chris 146
        Happy

        Re: Plain & Simple

        Take it you have never used a Nexus 7 or 10 then

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Plain & Simple

          I have and they are no iPad / iPad Mini - just plastic wannabes. Guess it depends if you would rather wear decent leather shoes or tromp around in Crocs - I've nothing against Crocs but I'd rather have decent shoes.

        2. John Molloy

          Re: Plain & Simple

          I have both. The Nexus7 is no iPad.

    2. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: Plain & Simple

      It's not ironic, it's how a lot of markets operate.

      A new company comes in at the low end, carves out a share of the market selling cheap and cheerful products, but over time improves quality and features as it makes a name for itself, and gradually moves upmarket.

      A new company comes in at the low end...

      1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: Plain & Simple

        Replace "company" with "country" wherever you like.

        Korean electronics and cars today don't reflect their reputation of 20 years ago, for example. China's stepping in to that end of the market.

    3. John Molloy

      Re: Plain & Simple

      Apple's profits are still larger than Samsung's. Here's the thing, all this talk of Samsung "winning" is just media spin. Of course the Register hates Apple so this article is what we have come to suspect from such a rag.

  2. Shagbag

    Samsung King of The Castle

    and Apple is the dirty rascal.

    Still, once you're top of the wazza, there's only one way to go from there...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Samsung King of The Castle

      And yet everyone still looks to Apple for the source of the next big thing. While the rest of the tech world tries to invent new things by combining two existing things or varying.

      I'm just waiting for someone to release a Shoecake.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Samsung King of The Castle

        And yet, even with everyone waiting for Apple to create the next big thing, all Apple does is copy everyone else, at least since Steve died.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: While the rest of the tech world...

        ....tries to invent new things by combining two existing things.

        Shit, my irony filter just blew!

      3. Gordon Fecyk
        Joke

        Where have you been?

        I'm just waiting for someone to release a Shoecake

        Plenty of shoe cakes available.

      4. oddie
        Happy

        Re: Samsung King of The Castle

        "...While the rest of the tech world tries to invent new things by combining two existing things or varying."

        what, like a phone that is also an mp3 player and a pocketpc?

    2. John Molloy

      Re: Samsung King of The Castle

      All well and good save that even in a bad quarter Apple took in more profit than Samsung.

  3. FartingHippo
    Holmes

    Cult of Jobs

    You know, I always used to scoff at the idea that one man could be responsible for much of Apple's success. Ridiculous! [I thought] A company that size is the sum of all its employees. No single individual has that much influence!!

    I could, just possibly, have been very wrong.

    1. ItsNotMe
      Meh

      Re: Cult of Jobs

      "I could, just possibly, have been very wrong."

      Don't think so. Remember...ALL of the current crop of iThingys, with the possible exception of the iPad Mini, were developed under Boy Wonder's gaze...and the vast majoirty are simply warmed over versions of old ideas.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Cult of Jobs

      Many of the tech leaders are stuffy businessmen, numbers droids.

      Jobs was a hippy type, think outside of the box.

      Of course later in life he decided to get more capitalist pig like most hippy types do.

    3. Lars Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Cult of Jobs

      Yes, as far as Jobs you where wrong, that is, you are quite right. Jobs was quite exceptional as a leader and designer. But what Cook is confronted with is exactly the same Jobs would have confronted to day.

      Brands will always, eventually, loose their magic. There was a time when having a iDevice was cool, expressing the owner being "in" and able to pay for it. (my dad is better than your dad). Slightly kidding, of course. But eventually things become normal again. That is where we are heading to day.

      As for " A company that size is the sum of all its employees" is more true without the "that size". Big companies fall completely regardless of the employees. The smaller the company the more valuable the quality of the employees.

    4. Chet Mannly

      Re: Cult of Jobs

      "I always used to scoff at the idea that one man could be responsible for much of Apple's success"

      Think back to where Apple was before Steve returned - its stock price was in the toilet, the company was almost on life support.

      Not saying that Apple are likely to go back to those days, but there is no doubt that a huge amount of its success was down to him.

      1. John Molloy

        Re: Cult of Jobs

        But also the "new Apple" is very different from the one that was run by the sugar water salesmen and the bean counters. The one that actually kicked him out.

        The only plus side to that of course is that we wouldn't have had either Pixar or OSX without them doing that of course.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can companies really make ever increasing revenues/profits?

    Is it possible for a company, any company, to make ever increasing revenues & and profits? Surely something has to plateau in the end? I know the shareholders want this, but it just seems impossible.

    1. Mark 65

      Re: Can companies really make ever increasing revenues/profits?

      No, they cannot without an ever increasing market and/or ever increasing share of that market. It is these such unrealistic market and shareholder expectations in part that have led us to where we are today. Look up articles referencing the hunt for yield, it's partly why finance went nuts and still is. With unrealistic expectations to fulfil you come up with ever more creative ways of achieving them.

    2. John Molloy

      Re: Can companies really make ever increasing revenues/profits?

      also it is worth pointing out that last year's 48% margins was a ridiculous blip. No hardware company has made anything near that level of profit. This years 38% or so is a margin that Samsung would only dream of having.

  5. Moeluk

    I'm now really confused...

    Reg...have you employed Eadon, and got him to start writing articles about Apple? If we could return to bitching about Windows 8 and Surface that would be awesome....right now it feels like the pimply nerd is hurling abuse, based on really..the slimmest of arguments.

  6. AndrewInIreland

    Anyone remember...

    ...when the must-have phone was a Motorola Razr? Or a Blackberry?

    Enjoy it while it lasts Samsung, but it might not last long.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Anyone remember...

      Samsung know they face massive competition and little loyalty. Android made them and Android will slay them. Apple sales are still going up (and at the top / premium end of the market) - Samsung could easily find they sales drop significantly when people start buying HTC, Motorola, Nokia or whoever makes the best, new Android phone.

      Already Samsung are market, market, market and are virtually giving their stuff away - free tablets with phones / cameras etc. They may sell more for a while but they will start to see their market share fall and their profits will quickly follow.

  7. El_Fev
    Meh

    Hmmmmmm.....

    Didn't Apple make more profit than samsung??

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hmmmmmm.....

      Apple make more profit than ANYONE and have something like $130+ billion cash in the bank.

      Samsung are probably sweating it knowing they have poor loyalty and are only as good as their latest phone and how cheap they can make it. If Motorola (and they are owned by Google remember) came out with the next best Android phone their sales could suffer very quickly. Instead of Motorola insert Huawei, Nokia, HTC, ZTE or ??

      Apple (in contrast) control the hardware, OS, media, apps, services and support with plenty of chance to make add on sales / revenue / profits. Samsung may sell you a case for your phone (if they ever ship them??).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hmmmmmm.....

        So you rushed over to the comments to spout the usual blather about how Apple only makes premium products and Samsung only gives away free crap, and in the process, you obviously missed the part about the Galaxy S3 and the Note 2, which are comparable to iPhones (in price, and superior in features and usability)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Hmmmmmm.....

          Shame the suffer from poor quality, service and security.

          1. Chet Mannly

            Re: Hmmmmmm.....

            "Shame the suffer from poor quality, service and security."

            But Apple always have issues in the initial batches - the quality will pick up as they sort their production processes out... :-)

        2. John Molloy

          Re: Hmmmmmm.....

          "and in the process, you obviously missed the part about the Galaxy S3 and the Note 2, which are comparable to iPhones (in price, and superior in features and usability)"

          But not in sales, of course. In Jan the media was heralding that the S3 had sold 40 million units. Roughly what the iPhone does a quarter.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Comparing apples to pears?

    Last I checked even Shamsung Electronics division has fingers in far more pies than Apple.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Comparing apples to pears?

        Samsung do lots of things but vast amounts of their profits come from 'mobile' and now I imagine they have upset some of their larger customers (Apple) their components divisions will be reliant on their 'mobile' division. It's like a deck of cards...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Comparing apples to pears?

      Reading is a lost art:

      "The IT and Mobile Communication Divisions saw sales bounce seven per cent year-on-year to 32.82tn won (£19bn)."

      IT and Mobile Communication... Sounds a lot like what Apple does

      1. Joseph Lord

        Re: Comparing apples to pears?

        The Samsung IM division made a profit of 4.18 Trillion Korean Won for the quarter (according to Google that is about $3.6 Billion or less than half of the quarterly profit Apple declared ($9.5 Billion). The IM profit was the bulk of that for whole Electronics division.

        On sales value they are just over half Apple (in the IM category alone) Apple posting $43.6 Billion and Samsung 22.47 Trillion Won ($20.2 billion). Samsung Electronics* total revenue for the quarter was 45.4 Trillion Won ($40.7 billion) pretty close to Apple's revenue.

        Note the Samsung figures are for the IM division only unless otherwise stated as suggested above is a suitable comparison and subject to me missing a zero somewhere in the conversions (but I think it is right).

        *Samsung has more than just the electronics division and I haven't looked at how that all adds up or even whether washing machines are in the Electronics division or not. I know the ships and construction equipment aren't.

        1. John Molloy

          Re: Comparing apples to pears?

          Worth pointing out, Joeseph, that Samsung have recently been adding their computer sales to the mobile division to muddy the water even more.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shamsung

      Crapple. Microshaft. Poonix. Cokia. Twatberry. Motoboner. Cool, a stupid name is much easier to come up with than an argument.

  9. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Comparing Like for like is a forgotten art then?

    Samsung make a whole host of other stuff besides phones and tablets.

    Their product range is positively astronomic when compared to that of Apple's

    do Apple make Washing Machines? nope.

    Whilst it is true that Apple's margin is decreasing, that 30%+ level is something that most CEO/CFO's would willingly cut an arm or a leg off for.

    But hey, this is EL Reg so balanced reporting is an activity that is banned from all reporters psyche.

    1. Frankee Llonnygog

      Re: Comparing Like for like is a forgotten art then?

      Remember - balanced reporting is the enemy of page views!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Comparing Like for like is a forgotten art then?

        Remember, reading the whole article is sometimes a good idea.

        At least, if nothing else, the title got all the iFanbois lathered up and they rushed over to the comments to vent.

    2. sabroni Silver badge

      Re: balanced reporting

      El Reg is perfectly balanced. Read more comments on more articles, you'll find people who think it's biased against MS, biased against Google and biased against Samsung. It's biased against all of them, if you find that too difficult to grasp then go and read some pro-apple site.

      1. DF118
        Thumb Up

        Re: balanced reporting

        @sabroni - thank fuck three pages of scrolling and finally someone with a bit of insight

    3. Chet Mannly

      Re: Comparing Like for like is a forgotten art then?

      "Whilst it is true that Apple's margin is decreasing, that 30%+ level is something that most CEO/CFO's would willingly cut an arm or a leg off for."

      But its dropped nearly 10% in 2 quarters - most CEO/CFO's would be extremely worried over a trend like that - 30% is good, but falling market share and rapidly shrinking margins just after you've lost the leader that most credit with the firm's success isn't something to celebrate...

  10. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Happy

    Key points for me are that the company is:

    A) publicly acknowledging possible future problems.

    B) saying it is going to increase R&D spending.

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. Jonathan 29

    7% QoQ

    I had to look it up, but the 7% is Quarter on Quarter not year on year. They increased 7% from last quarter. Their year on year is closer to 50%. That compares to Apple's 11% year on year.

  13. jubtastic1

    Of course theres this:

    http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-samsungs-massive-marketing-budget-2012-11

    Not sure how sustainable that spend is, but I suspect it all goes to pants pretty quickly when you stop.

    1. Darryl

      Re: Of course theres this:

      Problem with this is, as pointed out multiple times above, Samsung makes a lot more than phones, so until these numbers are broken down by division, they're pretty much meaningless

      1. John Molloy

        Re: Of course theres this:

        And of course, Samsung also makes a lot more phones. 80 or so I think in the current roster.

  14. Jurassic
    Devil

    Don't know what you want?

    Apple's revenues went UP substantially in the past quarter... it was the company's margins that reduced total profits.

    But this is exactly what the anal-ysts have been clamoring for. They have been demanding that Apple lower its margins and sell less expensive products.

    So what happens when Apple does what those people want? Those same people start complaining that Apple's margins are lower! They really don't know what they want.

    There has been a demand for Apple to sell more lower-priced (and lower margin) products, and they have done this by introducing the iPad mini and selling more previous generation iPhones.

    Even with the reduced margins, Apple's revenues and profits are MUCH larger than any other tech company in the world. Samsung's revenues and profits are PUNY compared to Apple's.

    Samsung can only dream of making the money that Apple does. ;-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Don't know what you want?

      ... and I think Samsung's time will come and go (for mobiles / tablets) long before they manage to make as much profit as Apple.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Don't know what you want?

      If Apple had introduced the iPad at reduced margins (I paid $800 for mine), many of its competitors would not have found it profitable to make and sell tablets. And today Apple would have less tablet competition and a larger market share.

    3. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Don't know what you want?

      What Steve was good at was persuading everyone, especially markets/Wall Street/investors/analysts, that if Apple didn't do something it was because people didn't want it and it wasn't any good anyway (e.g. iPad Mini). If Apple did something that was want people didn't want then it was a "hobby project" (e.g. Apple TV).

      Tim Cook isn't good at that. Apple's problems have started since the reality distortion field popped.

      1. John Molloy

        Re: Don't know what you want?

        "Tim Cook isn't good at that. Apple's problems have started since the reality distortion field popped."

        And four of the biggest quarters ever have happened since Jobs died. Including the fourth largest quarter ever. This most recent "fail".

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge
          Boffin

          Re: Don't know what you want?

          The current share price reflects confidence in Apple's future performance.

  15. DerekCurrie
    Devil

    Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable

    "The South Korean firm's figures make for uncomfortable reading for Apple CEO Tim Cook as his company's fortunes start moving in the opposite direction."

    Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable. Samsung skims the suckers and attracts people with little to spend and little interest in high tech. Thankfully, Apple has no interest in competing in the cheap device, of any kind, markets. I don't consider Samsung a competitor of Apple's due to their high degree of ripoff and dependence upon Google. But at least they are an alternative to Apple.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable

      " Samsung skims the suckers and attracts people with little to spend"

      That worked pretty well for the Volkswagen Beetle.

      1. John Molloy

        Re: Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable

        "That worked pretty well for the Volkswagen Beetle."

        Which car did the Beetle rip off?

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Which car did the Beetle rip off?

          "The origins of the car date back to 1925, when Béla Barényi submitted his concepts to the Maschinenbauanstant Wien. Further influences came from the 1931 Tatra T97, and the 1931 Porsche Type 12."

          I always promote Bugattis, whenever I can. So let me say the rear deck of 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic deserves to be included here.

    2. Graham Lockley

      Re: Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable

      Sat next to a cracking Samsung colour laser printer that has paid for itself a dozen times over. Guess I am a major sucker with little to spend (wrong!) and little interest in high tech (double wrong!).

      Lets rewrite your final statement with a tin foil hat in place to reduce the effect of the distortion field.

      'Apple has no ability to compete in the markets that won't pay a hefty margin for fairy dust'

    3. elaar

      Re: Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable

      "Samsung skims the suckers and attracts people with little to spend and little interest in high tech"

      Most of the people I know with iphones/ipads are either women, kids, parents, grandparents (for ease of use to Apples credit) and my art/design pals, none of which buy them for a specific interest in high tech.

      A lot of the latest Samsung phones certainly aren't cheap and do have quite a lot of new tech from what I have read (whether eye gestures etc. will work well has yet to be seen).

      I'm fairly unbiased here as my company decided to give me a naff Nokia, so I use neither, you however are so overly biased that your comment is painful to read.

  16. N2

    Nothing to do with the fact that its cheaper & better and all to do with rounded corners? </sarcasm> oh noes, I can hear the chant of lawyers word processors revving up!

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