Samsung Electronics earnings for 2018 below market expectations

삼성전자 작년 영업익 60조 육박 신기록... 4분기는 시장전망 하회

Profits at the world's biggest smartphone maker, Samsung Electronics, fell sharply in the fourth quarter and were way below market expectations.
Profits for the whole of 2018, though, were at an all-time high.
Kim Ji-yeon has the details.
2018 for Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics could be summed up as bittersweet... as it releases its provisional earnings report on Tuesday.
Fourth-quarter earnings have dropped sharply, mainly due to sluggish demand in the memory chip business... and growing competition in the smartphone sector.
Operating profits in the fourth quarter tumbled 28-point-7-percent on-year to around 9-point-7-billion U.S. dollars... while Q4 sales dropped by nearly 10-point-6-percent to record 52-point-8-billion dollars.
That's much lower than predictions made by local analysts which estimated Samsung Electronics would see 10-point-7-billion dollars in Q4 operating profits and Q4 sales of 55-point-4-billion dollars.
Meanwhile, the company's sales and operating profits both hit a yearly all-time-high in 2018 due to a semiconductor boom that lasted until the third quarter.
The company's combined sales for 2018 surpassed 217-point-7-billion dollars... and operating profits amounted to more than 53-point-6-billion dollars.
The worst may not be over for Samsung... as analysts anticipate semiconductor prices to drop further this year.
The Korean smartphone maker has attempted to recover from the dismal fourth quarter figures by joining hands with U.S. tech giant Apple... a rare move considering they've been locked into years-long patent suits around the world.
They've announced Sunday that Samsung's smart TVs will offer iTunes' movie and TV show service from this spring.
Both companies face challenges from Chinese competitors as they expand their presence in China and other emerging markets.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.