Samsung Electronics projects profits decline after record quarter

South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics has posted its expected earnings for the second quarter of this year…and it forecasts its profit growth to be *lower than the first quarter's.
The reason for the fall? Poor smartphone sales.
Our Ko Roon-hee has more.

Samsung Electronics on Friday posted its expected earnings for the second quarter of 2018.
Operating profit was up 5-point-2 percent on-year,... reaching some 13-point-2 billion U.S. dollars.
But that's 5-point-4 percent lower than the previous quarter's record profits…which stood at around 14 billion U.S. dollars.
Samsung had delivered a string of record operating profits, and the figures released on Friday mark the first time in seven quarters that Samsung has posted an on-quarter decrease in operating profits.

Meanwhile…second quarter sales were estimated at 51.8 billion dollars…down 4-point-9 percent from a year earlier.

Samsung did not offer net profit forecasts for each business division.
The company is expected to release its finalized figures later this month.

Analysts attributed the fall in profits to the weak sales of its smartphones.
They said Samsung sold fewer Galaxy S9 phones than expected... because it failed to draw in consumers, with no significant improvements from the previous model.
The display segment is also expected to post weak earnings...because the price of LCD panels are falling.

Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.