Matsuda Global - Samsung Profit Forecast Misses Expectations

South Korea, January 25, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​Matsuda Global - Korean consumer electronics giant, Samsung has posted a forecast for a 6.1trn won ($5.1bn) profit for the fourth quarter of 2015, an increase over the same period in 2014 when it forecast 5.29trn.

Despite the meaningful improvement, the forecast came in short of consensus analysts’ expectations for a 6.6trn won profit.

Not only are smartphone makers going to have to come to terms with bumping their heads up against the limits of what is possible with the technology, they're already dealing with markets that are flooded with products.

Matsuda Global, Technology Researcher

Samsung is facing challenging conditions in a smartphone marketplace which is saturated with high end competition from Apple and newer, mid-level rivals like Huawei.

“Not only are smartphone makers going to have to come to terms with bumping their heads up against the limits of what is possible with the technology, they’re already dealing with markets that are flooded with products,” said a Matsuda Global technology researcher.

Though Samsung remains the largest world's biggest maker of memory chips and smartphones, it lacks the cachet enjoyed by its arch rival in the smartphone marketplace, Apple.

Rivals like Huawei are posing serious challenges to the company with a large range of affordable devices that use the Android operating system to great effect and reception by a growing army of loyal customers all over the world. “The pace of innovation in the smartphone marketplace has slowed significantly and, consequently, users are less inclined to spend large sums of money on what are regarded only as marginal improvements of current models,” explained the Matsuda Global researcher.

Matsuda Global says it is maintaining its neutral rating on Samsung stock despite the forecast citing confidence that the company can grow its memory chips business which supplies Apple and other smartphone makers.