back to article What can't sell Galaxy S6s and keeps going down on you? Samsung and its profits

Samsung Electronics's profits fell eight per cent, year on year, in its second quarter of 2015 – as sales of its Galaxy S6 failed to gain traction. Profit for the three-month period, which ran from April to June, fell to 5.75tn won ($4.9bn, £3.2bn). Profit for the mobile division fell to 2.76tn won, from 4.42tn won a year …

  1. Hans 1

    Well, supply problems are to blame ? BS

    Supply problems create demand: it is the shiny new thing nobody can get because it is sold out ? I want one! Go ask Apple!

    Sadly, it was not the shiny new thing, it was a slightly better phone than last time, not worth an upgrade.

    1. Lee D Silver badge

      Maybe if it had had a replaceable battery and an SD slot, it may have fared something close to it's predecessors.

      As far as I'm concerned, it was a crippled phone that I could never expand and would have to replace entirely in 18 months time when the battery died.

      I'm sure the bean-counters did their maths and decided that's what they wanted, at the expense of actually mis-judging the demand for such a thing.

      1. dotdavid

        "Maybe if it had had a replaceable battery and an SD slot, it may have fared something close to it's predecessors"

        I agree. I think a lot of the sorts of people that buy flagship Android devices want that kind of thing, at least more than the general market does.

      2. gnasher729 Silver badge

        "Maybe if it had had a replaceable battery and an SD slot, it may have fared something close to it's predecessors."

        iPhones never had replaceable batteries or SD slots, so I doubt this is the problem.

        1. Joe 48

          But those people didn't buy the Samsung. I for one was willing to forgive the plastic feel for those features. Although it won't be the sole cause, I'm of no doubt it's contributing to the drop.

        2. Named coward

          iPhones never had them so there's no disadvantage in upgrading from iPhone to iPhone, but previous Samsung phones do so owners of previous Samsung phones see this as a disadvantage.

        3. Lee D Silver badge

          iPhones are outsold 4:1 by Android devices.

          They satisfy only one niche of users that Android users tend not to overlap much into.

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Yes it sodding well is!

    2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      They thought people would like the phone but more would buy the cheaper model. Turns out that the Edge appeals to more people than they expected so they've sold more of the higher margin version. Total sales may be down a bit but a profit is a profit. I know a couple with the Edge and they love it.

      At the moment, however, profits for any company with large sales in Europe around 15% down to to the Dollar/Euro exchange rate.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Charlie Clark - dollar/euro exchange rate

        How does the dollar/euro exchange rate hurt Samsung, as they are not a US company? If the won/euro exchange rate was dropping it might be a problem for them, and perhaps that is happening, but the dollar rising or falling isn't going to affect the won/euro exchange rate.

    3. N13L5

      Re: "slightly better phone"

      How was it even "slightly better"...?

      I thought it was significantly worse:

      - metal case - worse in a fall than the polycarbonate that your metal-obsessed pundits kept calling "plastiky" It was a switch for the stupid: loose a bunch of useful features for slivers of needless, cheap aluminum.

      - no Micro SD card - a total no-go for me - and certainly worse than last year's phone

      - no swappable battery - worse than last year's phone

      - no water / dust proofing - worse than last year's phone

      Does anybody really care if the processor got unnoticably faster? S5 ran absolutely smooth, S6 runs absolutely smooth. Can anybody tell the difference between FHD and QHD or whatever they call the new resolution? I don't look at my phone screen with a magnifying glass.

      Did the camera get marginally better? possible. I wouldn't know, cause the first 4 bullet points got the phone off my shopping list instantly.

      .

      Lastly, Samsung has that evil plan to collude with Crapple to eliminate SIM cards from phones. That alone makes me not to want to give my money to Samsung ever again.

      Every time you want to change SIM cards, you'll have to beg your miserable greedy bastard telco for it? Good luck with that.

  2. King Jack
    Facepalm

    Well Duh?

    I have a Note 3 with microSD and removable battery, why would I downgrade to an S6 without the features I value?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Well Duh?

      My S4 just came out of contract, new screen, new battery, lollipop stock rom, protective case and a decent sim only deal, I ain't upgrading either.

      Though I use wechat (brother abroad) and ran out of space on the phone, it seems wechat had taken 500mb of phone space, all fixed and now all good.

      The s6 is of no interest to me, what does it actually offer compared to what it takes away?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Well Duh?

      My Note-3 requires a replacement soon and the obvious choice is the soon to be announced Note-5 ... except ... yep, the rumour is they're going to cripple it again!

  3. Frederick Tennant

    Oh dear!

    None removable battery, no expandable SD slot, but better? sorry but nothing here to upgrade to. However keep on pushing the envelope was the right move, its a pity they wanted to be more Apple like, it just don't work unless you can make the same phone for half the price. Otherwise we would be going at Apples pace with its low speed cpu minuscule ram and crap memory, but loads of profit.

  4. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. dotdavid

      I'm still on a Galaxy S3 although I think one day soon I'm going to get really annoyed with its limited RAM and get something else.

      TouchWiz lasted about two months before being replaced by CyanogenMod, but that's only officially supported up to KitKat - the crappy support for Exynos processors in the custom ROMs scene is due to Samsung, and is the main reason I don't recommend any Samsung phones now.

      That and the Galaxy Ace Duo I stupidly found for my father in law to use (he wanted a dual SIM one and at the time there were very few of them available from mainstream sources in the UK). Samsung really don't do budget phones well.

    2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      I've had four Samsung phones and they've all been solid: three of those were AMOLED. My Galaxy Tab 8.9 from 2011 is still going strong.

      Support for a lot of companies is shitty because it's off-loaded to third-parties often on fixed contacts. Better customer service is one of the things you can expect when you pay the Apple premium.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Samsung Galaxy S3 was the voted the most unreliable phone.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You're not the only one mate. Worst decision I've ever made was to try out Samsung. Samdung...

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I've used my Note-3 for many hundreds of hours and there is NO screen burn of any kind. Your statement is 'odd'.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stick a fork in Samsung, they're done.

    Copying only gets you so far and in Samsung's case the limit was reached once the Chinese companies, with much lower labour costs, finally got their act together and started churning out stuff that was half-decent in terms of features and quality.

    Innovation is where the money's at, so Samsung better hope they can rustle up some magic from somewhere lest they slide into irrelevance.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Stick a fork in Samsung, they're done.

      The problem for Samsung was that the Chinese companies copied them and are not selling the phones at premium prices like Samsung.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Stick a fork in Samsung, they're done.

        Samsung copied Apple first. Witness their phone range before and after the release of the iPhone.

  6. Jim-234

    Taking off features to act like Apple lite didn't help them at all

    I was recently in the market for a new phone and was waiting for the S6 to come out as I was going to get either the S6 or the S6 edge, however once they came out & I saw there was no removable battery and no SD card slot, I said no thanks & went with a Note 4 instead.

    Now I'm wondering what the Note 5 will bring & if it also goes with no removable battery & no SD card, then for me there is no reason to get it.

    Now perhaps if Samsung could get back to the basics and produce phones with great specs, all the options that Apple refuses to give, less software bloat and perhaps some light splash proofing / drop proofing they might get somewhere, but my guess is they won't even try.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Taking off features to act like Apple lite didn't help them at all

      Wait, so due to the removal of features from the S6 you bought the more expensive Note 4? It seems like Samsung got more money/profit from you, so how did it "not help them at all?" If everyone reacted like you, they'd be seeing record profits!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They make crap phones that's why

    I bought a new S6, the camera module had a fault, it wouldn't work unless you shook the phone. The OIS was jamming.

    Sent that back, decided on a Note 4 instead, open box one from PC World. But that had a small fault, the SPen detector wouldn't work, so it thought the pen was always removed. Back that went.

    Bought a brand new Note 4 this time, worked fine for a few months, then the mobile reception started the screw up. 4G wouldn't work, it would only get a signal on 3G, also wouldn't made or receive calls or SMS messages. I tried another SIM (another network) and that won't register on any network. Sadly, while trying out different firmware (after the fault appeared, not before) I flipped the KNOX flag, so my warranty is now void.

    Needless to say I've owned loads of smartphones from all sorts of brands and never once had any problems with them. All three Samsung's have been faulty. Needless to say I think their phones are total rubbish and I'm down about £400 now thanks to them.

    Hopefully my HTC One M9 will better.

    1. spiny norman

      Re: They make crap phones that's why

      I replaced an awful old Galaxy S3 with an HTC One M9. I'm very happy with it. The camera actually isn't great, but that isn't what I have a phone for. If you're into selfies, which I'm not, or video calls, the front camera is really good.

      I also have a Galaxy Tab S. I had to install a 3rd party launcher on it to hide the awful flipboard screen, but otherwise it's been fine. You can't really generalise about manufacturers, some models are good and some aren't.

  8. Slap

    Is this really a suprise

    Let's face it, smartphones peaked in terms of usability for most people around 3 years ago. For most there is little point in upgrading unless the old phone has failed or suffered a catastrophic incident.

    Apple got a boost this year in that it finally offered screen sizes that most iOS users thought they wanted, which I also bought into (well got "free" on a contract renewal), but I've since gone back to my 4S as it's just more convinient to use day to day.

    Gone are the days where a new phone release sparks excitement, and a buying frenzy, as the incremental increases in processor speed and display resolution and size simply do not matter for the vast majority of users when their old phone is doing perfectly well.

    Personally I think tech needs to, well, not slow down, but stop with producing new phones every year, and then give people something with a real bang 2 or 3 years down the line. The market is dead partly because of what I've previously mentioned, and that is that small incremental updates on a yearly basis are simply not enough to get people going.

  9. Alistair
    Coat

    wow. apparently there are a few pissed off ex sammy owners here

    we have --- 5 samsung phones in the house - none are S6. There are 2 SIIx phones still running - in fact mine is running CM12 (PA/TwRP), an S4mini and an S5, as well as 'kid tablet' S3 (no sim, but used for watching netflix and youtube buy the youngest).

    I've had to replace one screen (courtesy of the tailgate on my Dodge caravan and my own stupidity) and we've found that the usb connectors can get picky - such that we have charger cords dedicated to phones - but overall - the last 6 years have been fine on the samsung front in this house - I'm looking to a Note 4 as my replacement when I can come up with the cash. I will NOT do term contracts, but only because I've seen the maths from the other side.

    1. P. Lee

      Re: wow. apparently there are a few pissed off ex sammy owners here

      It appears that Samsung have internal brand confusion and too many beancounters. You don't get nitpicky with customers over support when they've paid a lot for the phone. Last year's flagship maybe cheap now, but the customer still remembers what they paid for it. Apple have it a bit easier, they don't do cheap, so a good-service culture is easier to fund.

      Premium brands need premium support - it should be "fix it with no questions asked." Actually all support should be like that. Let's face it, these phones cost very little to make. A few annoyed customers do enormous damage but happy customers really help you because people like to be able to brag about how they made the right purchasing decision.

      I wonder when someone will realise that helping the customer is a good thing? Give them an SD card slot and replaceable batteries. Document that chipset and help the CM and vanilla Android chaps to get their software working well on it. You may not sell a replacement so quickly but you'll build brand loyalty and that's a lucrative thing. If people wanted an idiot-phone they would have already bought, er, something else.

  10. K

    Colour, size and texture dont matter..

    Turd is still turd.

    I'm hoping the new Note will have some awesomeness to it, but it'll likely be the same shit as the S6, just scaled up. So I suspect me next phone will be the P8Max when it finally materialises!

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. 3ogdy

    Lack of innovation

    The Galaxy S6 was just a fail. It brought nothing new to the table. Same goes to Galaxy S5...itbrought very little to the table and still had a VERY ugly design. The S6 fixed some of the design issues (that back cover, for God's sake! +gipsy colors and all) the S5 had but then again...it was just a plain boring smartphone.

    Samsung finally understood what the problem was and released an S6 Edge. Finally. Some innovation.

    Then they understood people actually wanted THAT sort of innovation and guess what: we have S6 Edge+. Maybe Samsung has finally understood what people look for when they're in the market for a new smartphone? EVOLUTION.

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